Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Christian persecution

2007-08-28T11:14:44Z

Hornet35: /* Muslim persecution of Christians */

'''Christian persecution''' has occured from the very beginnings of Christianity and continues today. Currently more than 200 million Christians around the globe suffer imprisonment, abuse and sometimes death because of their faith.<ref>http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Christian/Persecution/</ref> In 1998, the publication ''[[The Voice of the Martyrs]]'' named 42 countries where Christians are facing persecution in various forms such as arrest, imprisonment, physical torture and death.<ref>http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1096.htm</ref>

Early [[Christian]] persecution was severe in Ancient [[Roman]]. In Ancient Rome, Christians were most commonly murdered by [[crucifixion]] and being put in arenas with [[lion]]s. The emperor [[Nero]] was one of the most notorious persecutors. Christians continue to be persecuted around the world today in [[communist]] countries like [[China]], and [[Islamic]] countries.

This persecution continued up through the fourth century, when Constantine's [[Edict of Milan]] in 317 A.D. promulgated a doctrine of religious tolerance. In 393 A.D., Christianity became the state religion of Rome, gaining strength after Constantine's conquest of Rome from his fellow ''caesars'' of the time.<ref>"... in 391 AD, Christianity became the official, and only, state religion of the empire." [http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Rome__Le.htm The Legacy of Rome] </ref>

Deep divisions remained within the Empire. Examples include:
# The [[Altar of Victory]] affair.
# The removal of avowed polytheists from office.

Persecution generally ended in the Roman Empire in 317 A.D., with the [[Edict of Milan]].

==Muslim persecution of Christians==
===Ottoman Empire===

The new [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. [[Islam]] not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another [[People of the Book]]. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that [[Mehmed II|Mehmet the Conqueror]] did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, [[Gennadius Scholarius]]. The [[Hagia Sophia]] and the [[Parthenon]], which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because [[Islamic law]] makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]], or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made [[ethnarch]], head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.

However, these rights and privileges (see [[Dhimmitude]]), including freedom of worship and religious organization, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. The legal privileges of the patriarch and the Church depended, in fact, on the whim and mercy of the [[Sultan]] and the [[Sublime Porte]], while all Christians were viewed as little more than second-class citizens. Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality were not a myth. That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced this more than anyone else is not in doubt. Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries unknown (see [[Greco-Turkish relations]]).<ref name=AIHG-NYT>[http://www.aihgs.com/New%20York%20Times.htm The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies] ''The New York Times''.</ref> <ref>http://www.helleniccomserve.com/pdf/BlkBkPontusPrinceton.pdf</ref>Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.

The [[Ottoman Empire]] was marked by periods of limited tolerance and periods of often bloody repression of non-Muslims. The [[Janissary]] army corps consisted of young men who were brought to Istanbul as child-slaves (and were often from Christian households) who were converted, trained and later employed by the Sultan (the [[devshirme]] system).

===Turkey===
{{Main|Armenian Genocide|Pontic Greek Genocide|Assyrian Genocide}}
Things worsened after the Empire collapsed at the end of [[World War I]]. Nationalist movements like the [[Young Turks]] began persecuting and murdering [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Assyrians|Assyrian]] and other Christians in what is known as the [[Armenian Genocide|Armenian]], the [[Pontic Greek Genocide|Pontic Greek]] and the [[Assyrian Genocide]]s. This mass murder of Christians is fairly unknown today outside Greece and Armenia, despite taking place not very long ago (1915-1922). It is estimated that 1,500,000 Armenians, 750,000 [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] and another 350,000 [[Pontic Greeks]] were murdered and most had to abandon regions inhabited by them for thousands of years.

Since the establishment of the secular nationalist [[Republic of Turkey]], the number of Orthodox in the [[Anatolia]]n peninsula has sharply declined amidst complaints of Turkish governmental repression.{{Facts|date=June 2007}} These complaints include various perceived campaigns by the Turkish government against various Eastern and Oriental Orthodox groups such as the [[Istanbul Pogrom]] in 1955 and the closure of the [[Halki seminary]] in 1971 (along with private universities).

The [[Istanbul pogrom]] was a state-sponsored and state-orchestrated [[pogrom]] that compelled Greek Christians to leave [[Constantinople]] ([[Turkish language|Turkish]] Istanbul), the first Christian city in violation to the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (see [[Istanbul Pogrom]]). The issue of Christian genocides by the Turks may become a problem, since Turkey wishes to join the [[European Union]].<ref>http://euobserver.com/9/22331/?rk=1 "MEPs back Armenia genocide clause in Turkey report" by Lucia Kubosova, published by ''EU Observer'' on [[5 September]] [[2006]]</ref> The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] is still in a difficult position. Turkey requires by law that the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] must be an [[Greeks|ethnic Greek]], holding Turkish citizenship by birth, although most of the [[Greeks in Turkey|Greek minority]] has been expelled. The state's expropriation of church property and the closing of the Orthodox [[Halki seminary|Theological School of Halki]] are also difficulties faced by the Church of Constantinople. Despite appeals from the [[United States]], the [[European Union]] and various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the School remains closed since [[1971]]. Persecution of Christians is continuing in modern Turkey. On [[February 5]], [[2006]], the Catholic priest
[[Andrea Santoro]] was murdered in [[Trabzon]] by a student influenced by the massive anti-Christian propaganda in the Turkish popular press<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,437512,00.html|publisher=Der Spiegel Online|title=Goldenes Kreuz unter der Bluse|date=September 17, 2006}}</ref>, following the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]]. On [[April 18]], [[2007]], 3 Christians were [[Malatya bible publishing firm murders|brutally murdered]] in [[Malatya]] <ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,478074,00.html Der Spiegel, Three Killed at Bible Publishing Firm]</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour/news/story/2007/04/070419_turkey_slayings.shtml BBC, Christians Killed in Turkey]</ref>, the hometown of [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], the assassin who shot and wounded [[Pope John Paul II]] on [[May 13]], [[1981]].

===Persecution of Christians in Iraq===
The [[United Nations High Commission for Refugees]] reports that Christians comprise 44% of [[Refugees of Iraq|Iraqi refugees]], although only 4% of the overall population is [[Christian]].<ref>[http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7410 Terror campaign targets Chaldean church in Iraq]</ref> Northern Iraq remained predominantly Christian until the destructions of [[Tamerlane]] at the end of the [[14th century]]. The [[Church of the East]] has its origin in what is now South East [[Turkey]]. By the end of the [[13th century]] there were twelve [[Nestorian]] dioceses in a strip from [[Peking]] to [[Samarkand]]. When the a 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Tamerlane (Timul Lenk) conquered [[Persia]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Syria]], the civilian population was decimated. Timur Lenk had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in [[Tikrit]], and 90,000 more in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/somasushma/Timur4.html The annihilation of Iraq]{{Verify credibility|date=August 2007}}</ref><ref>http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/etnisk_b.exe?Assyrian</ref>

Ethnic [[Assyrians]] (most of whom are adherents of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]) account for most of Iraq's sizable Christian population, along with [[Armenians]].

Iraq's Christian community numbered 1.4 million in [[1980]] at the start of [[Iran-Iraq War]]. They were tolerated under the [[secular]] regime of [[Saddam Hussein]], who even made one of them, [[Tariq Aziz]], his deputy. But as the war has radicalised Islamic sensibilities, Christians have seen their total numbers slump to about 500,000 today, of whom 250,000 live in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1961207,00.html 'We're staying and we will resist']</ref> An exodus to the neighbouring countries of [[Syria]], [[Jordan]] and [[Turkey]] has left behind closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small minority without a militia of their own, Iraqi Christians have been persecuted by both [[Shi’a]] and [[Sunni]] Muslim militias, and also by criminal gangs.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1606015,00.html Iraq's Christians Flock to Lebanon]</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270377,00.html Christians Fleeing Violence in Iraq]</ref>

As of [[November 4]], [[2006]], the [[UNHCR]] estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.<ref> [http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/03/un_nearly_100000_flee_iraq_monthly/ U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly]. Alexander G. Higgins, ''[[Boston Globe]],'' [[November 3]], [[2006]]</ref> A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from [[Iraq]] have been granted [[refugee]] status in the [[United States]].<ref>Ann McFeatters: [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317322_mcfeatters27.html Iraq refugees find no refuge in America]. ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' May 25, 2007</ref>

One of the most recent tragic events of the present Iraqi situation for the Christian community is the assassination by [[Islam|Islamic]] [[terrorism|terrorists]] of Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. [[Ragheed Aziz Ganni]] and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in the ancient city of [[Mosul]].<ref name="frragheed">[http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2655894.ece Fr Ragheed Ganni -- The Independant (14 June 2007)]</ref> Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped by Muslim terrorists who demanded their conversion to Islam, when they refused the terrorists shot them.<ref name="frragheed" />

===Persecution of Christians in Kosovo===
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed overwhelmingly of Serbs (see [[Demographic history of Kosovo]]). Initially, former Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in [[1389]]. Christians within the Ottoman Empire were not violently persecuted but gradually Islamized through incentives such as property, reduced taxes and the right to bear arms. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople[http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture3.html]. The living conditions of the average serf in Kosovo improved druing the Ottoman occupation due to the rationalization of the Ottoman Timar system which was less demanding then previous feudal relations. Persecution of Christians has been limited to the Serbian Orthodox tardition and is ethnic not religious. Catholic's, most of whom were Albanian, were unmolested in Kosovo. The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in the destruction of 56 Serb Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, graveyards and other religious monuments, some of them being of great historical and architectural importance. The latest wave of anti-Serb violence was in March 2004 (see [[Unrest in Kosovo]]).{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

===Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon===
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims. Among the earliest was the [[Damour massacre|Damour Massacre]] in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological, and retaliation reasons. The [[Syria|Syrian regime]] was also involved in persecuting Christians as well as Muslims in Lebanon.<ref>http://phoenicia.org/christiansmea.html</ref><ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newssummpopup.php?newscode=4612&PHPSESSID=c7d2e762a581bd8981cacf23abafd68c</ref>

===Persecution of Christians in Sudan===
There is an abundance of evidence since the early 1990s of oppression and persecution of Christians, including by Sudan's own ''Sudan Human Rights Organization'', which in mid-1992 reported on forcible closure of churches, expulsion of priests, forced displacement of populations, forced [[Islamisation]] and [[Arabisation]], and other repressive measures of the Government. In 1994 it also reported on widespread torture, ethnic cleansing and crucifixion of pastors. [[Pax Christi]] has also reported on detailed cases in 1994, as has Africa Watch. Roman Catholic bishop Macram Max Gassis, Bishop of [[El Obeid]], also reported to the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, in February 1994 on accounts of widespread destruction of hundreds of churches, forced conversions of Christians to Islam, [[concentration camps]], genocide of the [[Nuba]] people, systematic rape of women, enslavement of children, torture of priests and clerics, burning alive of pastors and catechists, [[crucifixion]] and [[mutilation]] of priests. The foregoing therefore serve to indict the Sudanese Government itself for flagrant violations of human rights and religious freedom.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In addition, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the [[Janjaweed]], the Arab Muslim militia, and even suspected [[Islamists]] in northern Sudan since 1984.[http://www.religioustolerance.org/geno_su.htm]

It should also be noted that Sudan's several civil wars (which often take the form of genocidal campaigns) are often not only or purely religious in nature, but also ethnic, as many black Muslims, as well as Muslim Arab tribesmen, have also been killed in the conflicts.

===Persecution of Christians in Pakistan===
====Blasphemy laws====
In Pakistan 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. On [[July 28]], [[1994]] [[Amnesty International]] urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, [[Benazir Bhutto]], to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the [[Nawaz Sharif]] administration which was backed by [[Muslim fundamentalists]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, [[Salman Rushdie]], author of ''[[The Satanic Verses]]''. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.<ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm</ref>

On September 22, 2006 a Pakistani Christian named Shahid Masih was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating Islamic "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan. He is presently held in confinement and has expressed fear of reprisals by [[Islamic Fundamentalists]].<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7248</ref>

====Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists====
The Christian community in Pakistan is frequently the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/south_asia/2183204.stm Pakistan's Christians under siege -- BBC]</ref>

On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church.

On September 25, 2002 two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", [[Karachi]], where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then executed eight Christians by shooting them in the head [http://www.domini.org/openbook/pak20020925.htm]. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.

In November [[2005]] 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed [[Roman Catholic]], [[Salvation Army]] and United [[Presbyterian]] churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.<ref>http://www.missio-aachen.de/menschen-kulturen/nachrichten/Sangla_Hill_attack_continues_to_draw_condemnation.asp</ref> However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4928</ref>

In February 2006 churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|Jyllands-Posten]] cartoons in [[Denmark]], leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.<ref>http://www.christianresponse.org/articles/291/cartoon-protestors-in-pakistan-target-christians</ref>

On June 5, 2006 a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near [[Lahore]] when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog". Bystanders encouraged the beating and joined in. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized.<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51859 Christian beaten for drinking water], Worldnet Daily</ref><ref>[http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsviewsdetails.php?newsid=578 Christian attacked for polluting],''Pakistan Christian Post''</ref>

In August of 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of [[Lahore]], Pakistan in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.<ref name="cp23922">http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060822/23922.htm</ref>

Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.<ref name="cp23922" />

===Attacks on Christians by Islamists in Indonesia===
Religious conflicts have typically occurred in [[western New Guinea]], [[Maluku]] (particularly [[Ambon Island|Ambon]]), and [[Sulawesi]]. The presence of Muslims in these regions is largely due to [[Suharto]]'s ''[[transmigrasi]]'' plan of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical [[Islamist]] organizations such as [[Jemaah Islamiah]] or [[Laskar Jihad]] to impose [[Sharia]]. The following list is far from comprehensive:
*[[1998]] - 500 Christian churches burned down in [[Java (island)|Java]].
*November, [[1998]] - 22 churches in [[Jakarta]] are burned down. 13 Christians killed.
*[[Christmas]] Day [[1998]] - 180 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in [[Poso]], [[Central Sulawesi]].
*[[Easter]] [[2000]] - 800 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
*[[May 23]], [[2000]] - Christians fight back against a Muslim [[Crowd|mob]]. 700 people die.
*June, [[2001]] - the [[Laskar Jihad]] declares [[Jihad]] against Christians. Muslim [[citizen]]s are recruited by the thousands to exterminate Christians.
*[[May 28]], [[2005]] - A bomb is exploded in a crowded market in [[Tentena]], killing 28. This marks the highest death toll due to bombing after the devastating attacks in [[Bali]].<ref>http://www.persecution.org/news/press2001-03-09.html</ref>
*[[October 29]], [[2005]] three school girls were found [[beheaded]] near Poso. The girls, students at [[Central Sulawesi Christian Church]], were killed by six unidentified assailants while on their way to class.

===Discrimination and persecution in other Muslim nations===
In [[Saudi Arabia]] Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=23</ref> Bibles and other non-Muslim religious books are captured, piled up and burned by the religious police of Saudi. No non-Muslims are allowed to become Saudi citizens. Prayer services by Christians are frequently broken up by the police and the Christians are arrested and tortured without even allowing them to be released on bail.

In [[Egypt]] the government does not officially recognise conversions from Islam to Christianity; because certain interfaith marriages are not allowed either, this prevents marriages between converts to Christianity and those born in Christian communities, and also results in the children of Christian converts being classified as Muslims and given a Muslim education. The government also requires permits for repairing churches or building new ones, which are often withheld. Foreign missionaries are allowed in the country only if they restrict their activities to social improvements and refrain from proselytizing. The [[Coptic Christianity|Coptic]] [[Pope Shenouda III]] was internally exiled in [[1981]] by President [[Anwar Sadat]], who then chose five Coptic bishops and asked them to choose a new pope. They refused, and in [[1985]] President [[Hosni Mubarak]] restored Pope Shenouda III, who had been accused of fomenting interconfessional strife. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist [[Islamist]] groups such as the [[Gama'at Islamiya]] during the 1980s was accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches; these have since declined with the decline of those organizations, but still continue. The police have been accused of siding with the attackers in some of these cases.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/589977.stm</ref> Nevertheless, high-ranking government officials in Egypt have included Copts like [[Boutros Ghali]] and his grandson, [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]].

There have been anti-Christian incidents carried out in areas governed by the [[Palestinian Authority]]. Some claim that this represents a pattern of deliberate mistreatment by the PA;<ref>http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july02/arafatland.html</ref> others hold that these are isolated incidents that reflect the beliefs of the individuals involved, but not the society in general.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=36</ref><ref>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/764947.html</ref> Two American courts, one in Illinois and the other in North Carolina, accepted the threat of "religious persecution" as grounds for granting asylum to Evangelical converts fleeing PA territory.
There is an ongoing trend for emigration among [[Palestinian Christian]]s doubling that of Muslims.
The ratio of Christians among Palestinians went from 18%-20% in 1947 to 13% in 1966 to 2.1% in 1993.<ref name="DonWagner">''[http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/pubs/20020312ib.html Palestinian Christians: An Historic Community at Risk?]'', by Don Wagner (Palestine Center - Information Brief No. 89, 12 March 2002) quoting [[Bethlehem University]] sociologist [[Bernard Sabella]] (see [http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm Palestinian Christians: Challenges and Hopes]).</ref> Among the causes there are the insecurity of living under Israeli rule after the 1967 [[Six Day War]], the comparatively warmer welcome that Christians have in the Americas and the rise of Islamism in Palestine politics

Though [[Iran]] recognizes [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] and [[Armenian people|Armenian]] Christians as a religious minority (along with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in the [[Majlis of Iran|Parliament]], after the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 Revolution]], Muslim converts to Christianity (typically to Protestant Christianity) have been arrested and sometimes executed. <ref>{{cite web|title=Iran Religious and Ethnic Minorities: Discrimination in Law And Practice|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=1997|url=http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-05.htm|accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref> ''See also: [[Christianity in Iran]]''.

In the Philippines, the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] and [[Abu Sayyaf]] has attacked and killed Christians.<ref>http://persecution.org/Countries/philippines.html</ref>

[[Abdul Rahman (convert)|Abdul Rahman]], a 41-year-old Afghan citizen, was charged in Afghanistan with rejecting Islam ([[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]]), a crime punishable by death under [[Sharia]] law. He has since been released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4823874.stm</ref><ref>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7BB654F1-7D5C-4E7D-B251-28A6E20A461D.htm</ref>

==Atheist persecution of Christians==
===The Dechristianization program during the French Reign of Terror===
The [[Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution]] is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the [[French Revolution]] in [[1789]] and the [[Concordat of 1801]].

The program of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included:

*the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
*the closing of churches,
*the institution of atheistic and deist cults, including the [[Cult of Reason]] and subsequently the [[Cult of the Supreme Being]],
*the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
*the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
*forced marriages of the clergy,
*forced abjurement of priesthood, and
*the enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
<ref>Latreille, A. FRENCH REVOLUTION, New Catholic Encyclopedia v. 5, pp. 972-973 (Second Ed. 2002 Thompson/Gale) ISBN 0-7876-4004-2</ref>

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] Cathedral on 10 November.

The dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. By early [[1795]] a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on [[February 21]], 1795 legalized public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the [[Christian cross]] were still forbidden. As late as [[1799]], priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and persecution only worsened after the French army led by General [[Louis Alexandre Berthier]] captured [[Rome]] and imprisoned [[Pope Pius VI]], who would die in captivity in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] now in ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope, [[Pope Pius VII|Pius VII]], led to the [[Concordat of 1801]], formally ending the dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the church and the French State.

Victims of the [[Reign of Terror]] totaled approximately 40,000. Among those people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 6 percent clergy <ref>[http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=209830 Harvey, Donald Joseph FRENCH REVOLUTION, History.com 2006 (Accessed April 27,2007)]</ref> and countless others were killed or persecuted because of their faith. Of the various social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.

===Communist persecution of Christians===
[[Marxism|Marxist]] ideology promotes atheism.<ref>Symbols, Conflict, and Identity: Essays in Political Anthropology by Zdzisław Mach, page 152</ref> This can often lead communist-states to persecute Christians as well as other [[theism|theists]].

====Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union====
After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] from the government and [[Russia]]n society, and to make the state [[atheist]]. Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as warehouses. Monasteries were closed and often converted to prison camps, most notably the Solovetz monastery becoming [[Solovki]] camp. Many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-government activities. These victims are now recognized as the "[[New Martyrs]]" by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], the old martyrs being the victims of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] persecutions. Church property, including the icons and other objects of worship (especially those made of precious metals) was confiscated and put to other uses.

While religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Constitution actually guaranteed religious freedom to all Soviet citizens, persecution was still government policy.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church abated during [[World War II]], at which time [[Stalin]]'s government reached a truce with the Church in order to use it as part of its program to inspire Russian [[patriotic]] fervor. Nevertheless, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government sought to put the Church under control by appointing loyal men as priests, allegedly ending up with the entire upper ranks of the Church being officers of the [[KGB]].

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the celebration of [[Christmas]] and the traditional Russian holiday of New Year (Feast of the Circumcision of Christ) was prohibited (later on New Year was reinstated as a secular holiday and is now the most significant family holiday in [[Russia]]). Gatherings and religious processions were initially prohibited and later on strictly limited and regulated. In later years, a more subtle method of disrupting Christian holidays involved broadcasting very popular movies one after the other on the major holidays when believers are expected to participate in religious processions, especially during the [[Easter]] celebration. Apparently, this was intended to keep those whose faith was uncertain or wavering in their homes and glued to their [[Television|TV]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

An intense ideological anti-Christian and anti-religious campaign was carried out throughout the history of the [[Soviet Union]]. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, not to become believers. The role of the Christian religion and the [[Church]] was painted in black colors in school textbooks. For instance, much emphasis was placed on the role of the Church in such historical horror stories as the [[Inquisition]], persecution of [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], [[Giordano Bruno]], and other heretical scientists, and the [[Crusades]]. School students were encouraged to taunt and use [[peer pressure]] against classmates wearing crosses or otherwise professing their faith. In the 1920s there were many "anti-God" publications and social clubs sponsored by the government, most notably the scathingly satirical "[[Godless at the Workbench]]" ("Bezbozhnik u Stanka" in Russian). Later on, these disappeared because a new generation has grown up essentially [[atheist]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

A "scientific" perspective was used to attack religion extensively. The Church was portrayed as obscurantist and opposed to the findings of [[science]]. Much was made of alleged Christian belief in the literal [[Creation (theology)|Creation]] account in the book of [[Genesis]] which the pro-[[Darwinian]] textbooks ridiculed.{{Fact|date=May 2007}} As part of the anti-foreign and anti-capitalist propaganda, an effort was made, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, to imprint in the minds of the people an image of the [[Western Culture|West]] as dominated by the anti-scientific ignorance of the Church, as opposed to the scientifically "progressive" [[atheist]] Soviet state.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In general, Christianity was portrayed as corrupt, hypocritical, a loyal servant of the reactionary [[czar]], obscurantist, "opium for the people" according to [[Karl Marx]], and otherwise evil. This [[Communist]] persecution of the Church proved enormously successful. Within the span of one generation, the traditionally highly devout Russian people became overwhelmingly [[atheist]]. This transformation was, for the most part, complete by the 1950s. As such, it counted as one of the greatest and the most successful persecutions Christianity had ever experienced, on par only with the destruction of Christianity in the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], and [[Asia Minor]] by the [[Islamic]] and [[Turkey|Turkish]] conquests.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

After the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], the government of [[Russia]] openly embraced the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and there was a reputed renaissance in the number of the faithful in [[Russia]]. As of 2004 it is generally noted, however, that whereas a very large percent of Russians today identify themselves as believers and members of the Church (up from a very small group in the Soviet days), still relatively few of them actually attend [[church]] regularly, read the [[Bible]], or otherwise take their [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with the [[Church]] seriously. For many, it seems, [[faith]] has become a matter of personal identification and readiness to [[Baptism|baptize]] their children or have church [[marriage]] and [[burial]] ceremonies, and not much else. This is a clear testimony to the completeness and the long term success of the Communist persecution of the Christianity in [[Russia]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

[[Richard Wurmbrand]], author of ''[[Tortured for Christ]]'' described the systematic persecution of Christians in one East Bloc nation. Many Christian believers in the Soviet Union have told of being imprisoned for no other reason than believing in God. Many have recently been canonized as [[saint]]s following their death at the hands of Soviet authorities; they are collectively referred to in the Orthodox Church as the "new martyrs". (See also [[Enemy of the people]], [[Gulag]], [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]], [[Varlam Shalamov]])

====Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations====
[[Enver Hoxha]] conducted a campaign to extinguish all forms of religion in [[Albania]] in [[1967]], closing all religious buildings and declaring the state atheist. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that actually outlawed religion. See [[Communist and post-Communist Albania]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

However, persecution of Christians, especially Protestants, [[Pentecostals]] and non-registered minority denominations, has continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, in many countries in [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Central Asia]], notably [[Tajikistan]], [[Uzbekistan]] and [[Human rights in Belarus|Belarus]].

====Persecution of Christians in North Korea====
Persecution of Christians is currently the worst in North Korea.<ref>http://sb.od.org/index.php?supp_page=wwl_top_ten&supp_lang=en</ref>

==Nazi-Fascist persecution==
Although far less hostile to Christianity than to Judaism, which the [[Nazism|Nazis]] [[the Holocaust|sought to exterminate]] throughout the [[Third Reich]] and lands that came under Nazi rule, Nazi [[totalitarianism]] demanded that all religious activity conform to the desires of Nazi leadership. Christian churches were obliged to accept the racist doctrines of Nazism. The [[Gestapo]] monitored Christian clergy and congregations for any semblance of dissent with Nazi policies, and many Christian clergy and laymen ended up in concentration camps when they asserted opposition to the teachings and practices of Nazism or if they acted upon pacifist convictions (like many [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and some [[Confessing Church]] members). During the early part of the Nazi rule, the "[[German Christians]]" were an important pseudo-Protestant tool of the regime to bring about the [[Gleichschaltung]] of the churches.

The expansion of [[Nazi Germany]] and the establishment of Nazi rule in occupied countries brought about persecutions ranging from those characteristic in Germany itself to conditions approaching those of the Soviet Union. Catholic priests in Poland that were opposed to the Nazis were taken to the concentration camps; many were murdered in the liquidation of the Polish [[intelligentsia]]. Due to its long historical association with [[Slavic Peoples|Slavic cultures]], Nazi occupation officials used collaborators such as the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Ustashe]] to specifically target [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] Christians in [[Yugoslavia]]. [[Roman Catholics]] were heavily persecuted in Nazi Germany because of their opposing views on [[Nazi eugenics]] and racial hatred.

In Italy the fascist regime of [[Mussolini]] persecuted [[Pentecostals]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and other Protestant groups following the [[Lateran Accords]] with the Roman Catholic church. In 1935, the interior minister [[Guido Buffarini Guidi]] ordered the complete break-up of the Pentecostalist network in Italy.<ref>[www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-7709.2005.00509.x For the Cause of Christ here in Italy]</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Persecution of Christians]]
[[Category:Christianity]]

Christian persecution

2007-08-28T11:14:25Z

Hornet35: /* Persecution of Christians in North Korea */

'''Christian persecution''' has occured from the very beginnings of Christianity and continues today. Currently more than 200 million Christians around the globe suffer imprisonment, abuse and sometimes death because of their faith.<ref>http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Christian/Persecution/</ref> In 1998, the publication ''[[The Voice of the Martyrs]]'' named 42 countries where Christians are facing persecution in various forms such as arrest, imprisonment, physical torture and death.<ref>http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1096.htm</ref>

Early [[Christian]] persecution was severe in Ancient [[Roman]]. In Ancient Rome, Christians were most commonly murdered by [[crucifixion]] and being put in arenas with [[lion]]s. The emperor [[Nero]] was one of the most notorious persecutors. Christians continue to be persecuted around the world today in [[communist]] countries like [[China]], and [[Islamic]] countries.

This persecution continued up through the fourth century, when Constantine's [[Edict of Milan]] in 317 A.D. promulgated a doctrine of religious tolerance. In 393 A.D., Christianity became the state religion of Rome, gaining strength after Constantine's conquest of Rome from his fellow ''caesars'' of the time.<ref>"... in 391 AD, Christianity became the official, and only, state religion of the empire." [http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Rome__Le.htm The Legacy of Rome] </ref>

Deep divisions remained within the Empire. Examples include:
# The [[Altar of Victory]] affair.
# The removal of avowed polytheists from office.

Persecution generally ended in the Roman Empire in 317 A.D., with the [[Edict of Milan]].

==Muslim persecution of Christians==
{{Main|Islam and Anti-Christian sentiment}}
===Ottoman Empire===

The new [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. [[Islam]] not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another [[People of the Book]]. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that [[Mehmed II|Mehmet the Conqueror]] did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, [[Gennadius Scholarius]]. The [[Hagia Sophia]] and the [[Parthenon]], which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because [[Islamic law]] makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]], or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made [[ethnarch]], head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.

However, these rights and privileges (see [[Dhimmitude]]), including freedom of worship and religious organization, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. The legal privileges of the patriarch and the Church depended, in fact, on the whim and mercy of the [[Sultan]] and the [[Sublime Porte]], while all Christians were viewed as little more than second-class citizens. Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality were not a myth. That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced this more than anyone else is not in doubt. Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries unknown (see [[Greco-Turkish relations]]).<ref name=AIHG-NYT>[http://www.aihgs.com/New%20York%20Times.htm The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies] ''The New York Times''.</ref> <ref>http://www.helleniccomserve.com/pdf/BlkBkPontusPrinceton.pdf</ref>Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.

The [[Ottoman Empire]] was marked by periods of limited tolerance and periods of often bloody repression of non-Muslims. The [[Janissary]] army corps consisted of young men who were brought to Istanbul as child-slaves (and were often from Christian households) who were converted, trained and later employed by the Sultan (the [[devshirme]] system).

===Turkey===
{{Main|Armenian Genocide|Pontic Greek Genocide|Assyrian Genocide}}
Things worsened after the Empire collapsed at the end of [[World War I]]. Nationalist movements like the [[Young Turks]] began persecuting and murdering [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Assyrians|Assyrian]] and other Christians in what is known as the [[Armenian Genocide|Armenian]], the [[Pontic Greek Genocide|Pontic Greek]] and the [[Assyrian Genocide]]s. This mass murder of Christians is fairly unknown today outside Greece and Armenia, despite taking place not very long ago (1915-1922). It is estimated that 1,500,000 Armenians, 750,000 [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] and another 350,000 [[Pontic Greeks]] were murdered and most had to abandon regions inhabited by them for thousands of years.

Since the establishment of the secular nationalist [[Republic of Turkey]], the number of Orthodox in the [[Anatolia]]n peninsula has sharply declined amidst complaints of Turkish governmental repression.{{Facts|date=June 2007}} These complaints include various perceived campaigns by the Turkish government against various Eastern and Oriental Orthodox groups such as the [[Istanbul Pogrom]] in 1955 and the closure of the [[Halki seminary]] in 1971 (along with private universities).

The [[Istanbul pogrom]] was a state-sponsored and state-orchestrated [[pogrom]] that compelled Greek Christians to leave [[Constantinople]] ([[Turkish language|Turkish]] Istanbul), the first Christian city in violation to the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (see [[Istanbul Pogrom]]). The issue of Christian genocides by the Turks may become a problem, since Turkey wishes to join the [[European Union]].<ref>http://euobserver.com/9/22331/?rk=1 "MEPs back Armenia genocide clause in Turkey report" by Lucia Kubosova, published by ''EU Observer'' on [[5 September]] [[2006]]</ref> The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] is still in a difficult position. Turkey requires by law that the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] must be an [[Greeks|ethnic Greek]], holding Turkish citizenship by birth, although most of the [[Greeks in Turkey|Greek minority]] has been expelled. The state's expropriation of church property and the closing of the Orthodox [[Halki seminary|Theological School of Halki]] are also difficulties faced by the Church of Constantinople. Despite appeals from the [[United States]], the [[European Union]] and various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the School remains closed since [[1971]]. Persecution of Christians is continuing in modern Turkey. On [[February 5]], [[2006]], the Catholic priest
[[Andrea Santoro]] was murdered in [[Trabzon]] by a student influenced by the massive anti-Christian propaganda in the Turkish popular press<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,437512,00.html|publisher=Der Spiegel Online|title=Goldenes Kreuz unter der Bluse|date=September 17, 2006}}</ref>, following the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]]. On [[April 18]], [[2007]], 3 Christians were [[Malatya bible publishing firm murders|brutally murdered]] in [[Malatya]] <ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,478074,00.html Der Spiegel, Three Killed at Bible Publishing Firm]</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour/news/story/2007/04/070419_turkey_slayings.shtml BBC, Christians Killed in Turkey]</ref>, the hometown of [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], the assassin who shot and wounded [[Pope John Paul II]] on [[May 13]], [[1981]].

===Persecution of Christians in Iraq===
The [[United Nations High Commission for Refugees]] reports that Christians comprise 44% of [[Refugees of Iraq|Iraqi refugees]], although only 4% of the overall population is [[Christian]].<ref>[http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7410 Terror campaign targets Chaldean church in Iraq]</ref> Northern Iraq remained predominantly Christian until the destructions of [[Tamerlane]] at the end of the [[14th century]]. The [[Church of the East]] has its origin in what is now South East [[Turkey]]. By the end of the [[13th century]] there were twelve [[Nestorian]] dioceses in a strip from [[Peking]] to [[Samarkand]]. When the a 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Tamerlane (Timul Lenk) conquered [[Persia]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Syria]], the civilian population was decimated. Timur Lenk had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in [[Tikrit]], and 90,000 more in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/somasushma/Timur4.html The annihilation of Iraq]{{Verify credibility|date=August 2007}}</ref><ref>http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/etnisk_b.exe?Assyrian</ref>

Ethnic [[Assyrians]] (most of whom are adherents of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]) account for most of Iraq's sizable Christian population, along with [[Armenians]].

Iraq's Christian community numbered 1.4 million in [[1980]] at the start of [[Iran-Iraq War]]. They were tolerated under the [[secular]] regime of [[Saddam Hussein]], who even made one of them, [[Tariq Aziz]], his deputy. But as the war has radicalised Islamic sensibilities, Christians have seen their total numbers slump to about 500,000 today, of whom 250,000 live in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1961207,00.html 'We're staying and we will resist']</ref> An exodus to the neighbouring countries of [[Syria]], [[Jordan]] and [[Turkey]] has left behind closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small minority without a militia of their own, Iraqi Christians have been persecuted by both [[Shi’a]] and [[Sunni]] Muslim militias, and also by criminal gangs.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1606015,00.html Iraq's Christians Flock to Lebanon]</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270377,00.html Christians Fleeing Violence in Iraq]</ref>

As of [[November 4]], [[2006]], the [[UNHCR]] estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.<ref> [http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/03/un_nearly_100000_flee_iraq_monthly/ U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly]. Alexander G. Higgins, ''[[Boston Globe]],'' [[November 3]], [[2006]]</ref> A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from [[Iraq]] have been granted [[refugee]] status in the [[United States]].<ref>Ann McFeatters: [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317322_mcfeatters27.html Iraq refugees find no refuge in America]. ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' May 25, 2007</ref>

One of the most recent tragic events of the present Iraqi situation for the Christian community is the assassination by [[Islam|Islamic]] [[terrorism|terrorists]] of Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. [[Ragheed Aziz Ganni]] and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in the ancient city of [[Mosul]].<ref name="frragheed">[http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2655894.ece Fr Ragheed Ganni -- The Independant (14 June 2007)]</ref> Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped by Muslim terrorists who demanded their conversion to Islam, when they refused the terrorists shot them.<ref name="frragheed" />

===Persecution of Christians in Kosovo===
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed overwhelmingly of Serbs (see [[Demographic history of Kosovo]]). Initially, former Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in [[1389]]. Christians within the Ottoman Empire were not violently persecuted but gradually Islamized through incentives such as property, reduced taxes and the right to bear arms. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople[http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture3.html]. The living conditions of the average serf in Kosovo improved druing the Ottoman occupation due to the rationalization of the Ottoman Timar system which was less demanding then previous feudal relations. Persecution of Christians has been limited to the Serbian Orthodox tardition and is ethnic not religious. Catholic's, most of whom were Albanian, were unmolested in Kosovo. The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in the destruction of 56 Serb Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, graveyards and other religious monuments, some of them being of great historical and architectural importance. The latest wave of anti-Serb violence was in March 2004 (see [[Unrest in Kosovo]]).{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

===Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon===
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims. Among the earliest was the [[Damour massacre|Damour Massacre]] in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological, and retaliation reasons. The [[Syria|Syrian regime]] was also involved in persecuting Christians as well as Muslims in Lebanon.<ref>http://phoenicia.org/christiansmea.html</ref><ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newssummpopup.php?newscode=4612&PHPSESSID=c7d2e762a581bd8981cacf23abafd68c</ref>

===Persecution of Christians in Sudan===
There is an abundance of evidence since the early 1990s of oppression and persecution of Christians, including by Sudan's own ''Sudan Human Rights Organization'', which in mid-1992 reported on forcible closure of churches, expulsion of priests, forced displacement of populations, forced [[Islamisation]] and [[Arabisation]], and other repressive measures of the Government. In 1994 it also reported on widespread torture, ethnic cleansing and crucifixion of pastors. [[Pax Christi]] has also reported on detailed cases in 1994, as has Africa Watch. Roman Catholic bishop Macram Max Gassis, Bishop of [[El Obeid]], also reported to the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, in February 1994 on accounts of widespread destruction of hundreds of churches, forced conversions of Christians to Islam, [[concentration camps]], genocide of the [[Nuba]] people, systematic rape of women, enslavement of children, torture of priests and clerics, burning alive of pastors and catechists, [[crucifixion]] and [[mutilation]] of priests. The foregoing therefore serve to indict the Sudanese Government itself for flagrant violations of human rights and religious freedom.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In addition, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the [[Janjaweed]], the Arab Muslim militia, and even suspected [[Islamists]] in northern Sudan since 1984.[http://www.religioustolerance.org/geno_su.htm]

It should also be noted that Sudan's several civil wars (which often take the form of genocidal campaigns) are often not only or purely religious in nature, but also ethnic, as many black Muslims, as well as Muslim Arab tribesmen, have also been killed in the conflicts.

===Persecution of Christians in Pakistan===
====Blasphemy laws====
In Pakistan 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. On [[July 28]], [[1994]] [[Amnesty International]] urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, [[Benazir Bhutto]], to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the [[Nawaz Sharif]] administration which was backed by [[Muslim fundamentalists]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, [[Salman Rushdie]], author of ''[[The Satanic Verses]]''. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.<ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm</ref>

On September 22, 2006 a Pakistani Christian named Shahid Masih was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating Islamic "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan. He is presently held in confinement and has expressed fear of reprisals by [[Islamic Fundamentalists]].<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7248</ref>

====Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists====
The Christian community in Pakistan is frequently the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/south_asia/2183204.stm Pakistan's Christians under siege -- BBC]</ref>

On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church.

On September 25, 2002 two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", [[Karachi]], where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then executed eight Christians by shooting them in the head [http://www.domini.org/openbook/pak20020925.htm]. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.

In November [[2005]] 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed [[Roman Catholic]], [[Salvation Army]] and United [[Presbyterian]] churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.<ref>http://www.missio-aachen.de/menschen-kulturen/nachrichten/Sangla_Hill_attack_continues_to_draw_condemnation.asp</ref> However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4928</ref>

In February 2006 churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|Jyllands-Posten]] cartoons in [[Denmark]], leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.<ref>http://www.christianresponse.org/articles/291/cartoon-protestors-in-pakistan-target-christians</ref>

On June 5, 2006 a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near [[Lahore]] when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog". Bystanders encouraged the beating and joined in. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized.<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51859 Christian beaten for drinking water], Worldnet Daily</ref><ref>[http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsviewsdetails.php?newsid=578 Christian attacked for polluting],''Pakistan Christian Post''</ref>

In August of 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of [[Lahore]], Pakistan in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.<ref name="cp23922">http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060822/23922.htm</ref>

Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.<ref name="cp23922" />

===Attacks on Christians by Islamists in Indonesia===
Religious conflicts have typically occurred in [[western New Guinea]], [[Maluku]] (particularly [[Ambon Island|Ambon]]), and [[Sulawesi]]. The presence of Muslims in these regions is largely due to [[Suharto]]'s ''[[transmigrasi]]'' plan of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical [[Islamist]] organizations such as [[Jemaah Islamiah]] or [[Laskar Jihad]] to impose [[Sharia]]. The following list is far from comprehensive:
*[[1998]] - 500 Christian churches burned down in [[Java (island)|Java]].
*November, [[1998]] - 22 churches in [[Jakarta]] are burned down. 13 Christians killed.
*[[Christmas]] Day [[1998]] - 180 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in [[Poso]], [[Central Sulawesi]].
*[[Easter]] [[2000]] - 800 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
*[[May 23]], [[2000]] - Christians fight back against a Muslim [[Crowd|mob]]. 700 people die.
*June, [[2001]] - the [[Laskar Jihad]] declares [[Jihad]] against Christians. Muslim [[citizen]]s are recruited by the thousands to exterminate Christians.
*[[May 28]], [[2005]] - A bomb is exploded in a crowded market in [[Tentena]], killing 28. This marks the highest death toll due to bombing after the devastating attacks in [[Bali]].<ref>http://www.persecution.org/news/press2001-03-09.html</ref>
*[[October 29]], [[2005]] three school girls were found [[beheaded]] near Poso. The girls, students at [[Central Sulawesi Christian Church]], were killed by six unidentified assailants while on their way to class.

===Discrimination and persecution in other Muslim nations===
In [[Saudi Arabia]] Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=23</ref> Bibles and other non-Muslim religious books are captured, piled up and burned by the religious police of Saudi. No non-Muslims are allowed to become Saudi citizens. Prayer services by Christians are frequently broken up by the police and the Christians are arrested and tortured without even allowing them to be released on bail.

In [[Egypt]] the government does not officially recognise conversions from Islam to Christianity; because certain interfaith marriages are not allowed either, this prevents marriages between converts to Christianity and those born in Christian communities, and also results in the children of Christian converts being classified as Muslims and given a Muslim education. The government also requires permits for repairing churches or building new ones, which are often withheld. Foreign missionaries are allowed in the country only if they restrict their activities to social improvements and refrain from proselytizing. The [[Coptic Christianity|Coptic]] [[Pope Shenouda III]] was internally exiled in [[1981]] by President [[Anwar Sadat]], who then chose five Coptic bishops and asked them to choose a new pope. They refused, and in [[1985]] President [[Hosni Mubarak]] restored Pope Shenouda III, who had been accused of fomenting interconfessional strife. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist [[Islamist]] groups such as the [[Gama'at Islamiya]] during the 1980s was accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches; these have since declined with the decline of those organizations, but still continue. The police have been accused of siding with the attackers in some of these cases.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/589977.stm</ref> Nevertheless, high-ranking government officials in Egypt have included Copts like [[Boutros Ghali]] and his grandson, [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]].

There have been anti-Christian incidents carried out in areas governed by the [[Palestinian Authority]]. Some claim that this represents a pattern of deliberate mistreatment by the PA;<ref>http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july02/arafatland.html</ref> others hold that these are isolated incidents that reflect the beliefs of the individuals involved, but not the society in general.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=36</ref><ref>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/764947.html</ref> Two American courts, one in Illinois and the other in North Carolina, accepted the threat of "religious persecution" as grounds for granting asylum to Evangelical converts fleeing PA territory.
There is an ongoing trend for emigration among [[Palestinian Christian]]s doubling that of Muslims.
The ratio of Christians among Palestinians went from 18%-20% in 1947 to 13% in 1966 to 2.1% in 1993.<ref name="DonWagner">''[http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/pubs/20020312ib.html Palestinian Christians: An Historic Community at Risk?]'', by Don Wagner (Palestine Center - Information Brief No. 89, 12 March 2002) quoting [[Bethlehem University]] sociologist [[Bernard Sabella]] (see [http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm Palestinian Christians: Challenges and Hopes]).</ref> Among the causes there are the insecurity of living under Israeli rule after the 1967 [[Six Day War]], the comparatively warmer welcome that Christians have in the Americas and the rise of Islamism in Palestine politics

Though [[Iran]] recognizes [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] and [[Armenian people|Armenian]] Christians as a religious minority (along with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in the [[Majlis of Iran|Parliament]], after the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 Revolution]], Muslim converts to Christianity (typically to Protestant Christianity) have been arrested and sometimes executed. <ref>{{cite web|title=Iran Religious and Ethnic Minorities: Discrimination in Law And Practice|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=1997|url=http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-05.htm|accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref> ''See also: [[Christianity in Iran]]''.

In the Philippines, the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] and [[Abu Sayyaf]] has attacked and killed Christians.<ref>http://persecution.org/Countries/philippines.html</ref>

[[Abdul Rahman (convert)|Abdul Rahman]], a 41-year-old Afghan citizen, was charged in Afghanistan with rejecting Islam ([[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]]), a crime punishable by death under [[Sharia]] law. He has since been released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4823874.stm</ref><ref>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7BB654F1-7D5C-4E7D-B251-28A6E20A461D.htm</ref>

==Atheist persecution of Christians==
===The Dechristianization program during the French Reign of Terror===
The [[Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution]] is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the [[French Revolution]] in [[1789]] and the [[Concordat of 1801]].

The program of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included:

*the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
*the closing of churches,
*the institution of atheistic and deist cults, including the [[Cult of Reason]] and subsequently the [[Cult of the Supreme Being]],
*the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
*the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
*forced marriages of the clergy,
*forced abjurement of priesthood, and
*the enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
<ref>Latreille, A. FRENCH REVOLUTION, New Catholic Encyclopedia v. 5, pp. 972-973 (Second Ed. 2002 Thompson/Gale) ISBN 0-7876-4004-2</ref>

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] Cathedral on 10 November.

The dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. By early [[1795]] a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on [[February 21]], 1795 legalized public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the [[Christian cross]] were still forbidden. As late as [[1799]], priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and persecution only worsened after the French army led by General [[Louis Alexandre Berthier]] captured [[Rome]] and imprisoned [[Pope Pius VI]], who would die in captivity in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] now in ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope, [[Pope Pius VII|Pius VII]], led to the [[Concordat of 1801]], formally ending the dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the church and the French State.

Victims of the [[Reign of Terror]] totaled approximately 40,000. Among those people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 6 percent clergy <ref>[http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=209830 Harvey, Donald Joseph FRENCH REVOLUTION, History.com 2006 (Accessed April 27,2007)]</ref> and countless others were killed or persecuted because of their faith. Of the various social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.

===Communist persecution of Christians===
[[Marxism|Marxist]] ideology promotes atheism.<ref>Symbols, Conflict, and Identity: Essays in Political Anthropology by Zdzisław Mach, page 152</ref> This can often lead communist-states to persecute Christians as well as other [[theism|theists]].

====Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union====
After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] from the government and [[Russia]]n society, and to make the state [[atheist]]. Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as warehouses. Monasteries were closed and often converted to prison camps, most notably the Solovetz monastery becoming [[Solovki]] camp. Many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-government activities. These victims are now recognized as the "[[New Martyrs]]" by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], the old martyrs being the victims of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] persecutions. Church property, including the icons and other objects of worship (especially those made of precious metals) was confiscated and put to other uses.

While religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Constitution actually guaranteed religious freedom to all Soviet citizens, persecution was still government policy.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church abated during [[World War II]], at which time [[Stalin]]'s government reached a truce with the Church in order to use it as part of its program to inspire Russian [[patriotic]] fervor. Nevertheless, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government sought to put the Church under control by appointing loyal men as priests, allegedly ending up with the entire upper ranks of the Church being officers of the [[KGB]].

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the celebration of [[Christmas]] and the traditional Russian holiday of New Year (Feast of the Circumcision of Christ) was prohibited (later on New Year was reinstated as a secular holiday and is now the most significant family holiday in [[Russia]]). Gatherings and religious processions were initially prohibited and later on strictly limited and regulated. In later years, a more subtle method of disrupting Christian holidays involved broadcasting very popular movies one after the other on the major holidays when believers are expected to participate in religious processions, especially during the [[Easter]] celebration. Apparently, this was intended to keep those whose faith was uncertain or wavering in their homes and glued to their [[Television|TV]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

An intense ideological anti-Christian and anti-religious campaign was carried out throughout the history of the [[Soviet Union]]. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, not to become believers. The role of the Christian religion and the [[Church]] was painted in black colors in school textbooks. For instance, much emphasis was placed on the role of the Church in such historical horror stories as the [[Inquisition]], persecution of [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], [[Giordano Bruno]], and other heretical scientists, and the [[Crusades]]. School students were encouraged to taunt and use [[peer pressure]] against classmates wearing crosses or otherwise professing their faith. In the 1920s there were many "anti-God" publications and social clubs sponsored by the government, most notably the scathingly satirical "[[Godless at the Workbench]]" ("Bezbozhnik u Stanka" in Russian). Later on, these disappeared because a new generation has grown up essentially [[atheist]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

A "scientific" perspective was used to attack religion extensively. The Church was portrayed as obscurantist and opposed to the findings of [[science]]. Much was made of alleged Christian belief in the literal [[Creation (theology)|Creation]] account in the book of [[Genesis]] which the pro-[[Darwinian]] textbooks ridiculed.{{Fact|date=May 2007}} As part of the anti-foreign and anti-capitalist propaganda, an effort was made, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, to imprint in the minds of the people an image of the [[Western Culture|West]] as dominated by the anti-scientific ignorance of the Church, as opposed to the scientifically "progressive" [[atheist]] Soviet state.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In general, Christianity was portrayed as corrupt, hypocritical, a loyal servant of the reactionary [[czar]], obscurantist, "opium for the people" according to [[Karl Marx]], and otherwise evil. This [[Communist]] persecution of the Church proved enormously successful. Within the span of one generation, the traditionally highly devout Russian people became overwhelmingly [[atheist]]. This transformation was, for the most part, complete by the 1950s. As such, it counted as one of the greatest and the most successful persecutions Christianity had ever experienced, on par only with the destruction of Christianity in the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], and [[Asia Minor]] by the [[Islamic]] and [[Turkey|Turkish]] conquests.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

After the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], the government of [[Russia]] openly embraced the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and there was a reputed renaissance in the number of the faithful in [[Russia]]. As of 2004 it is generally noted, however, that whereas a very large percent of Russians today identify themselves as believers and members of the Church (up from a very small group in the Soviet days), still relatively few of them actually attend [[church]] regularly, read the [[Bible]], or otherwise take their [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with the [[Church]] seriously. For many, it seems, [[faith]] has become a matter of personal identification and readiness to [[Baptism|baptize]] their children or have church [[marriage]] and [[burial]] ceremonies, and not much else. This is a clear testimony to the completeness and the long term success of the Communist persecution of the Christianity in [[Russia]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

[[Richard Wurmbrand]], author of ''[[Tortured for Christ]]'' described the systematic persecution of Christians in one East Bloc nation. Many Christian believers in the Soviet Union have told of being imprisoned for no other reason than believing in God. Many have recently been canonized as [[saint]]s following their death at the hands of Soviet authorities; they are collectively referred to in the Orthodox Church as the "new martyrs". (See also [[Enemy of the people]], [[Gulag]], [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]], [[Varlam Shalamov]])

====Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations====
[[Enver Hoxha]] conducted a campaign to extinguish all forms of religion in [[Albania]] in [[1967]], closing all religious buildings and declaring the state atheist. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that actually outlawed religion. See [[Communist and post-Communist Albania]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

However, persecution of Christians, especially Protestants, [[Pentecostals]] and non-registered minority denominations, has continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, in many countries in [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Central Asia]], notably [[Tajikistan]], [[Uzbekistan]] and [[Human rights in Belarus|Belarus]].

====Persecution of Christians in North Korea====
Persecution of Christians is currently the worst in North Korea.<ref>http://sb.od.org/index.php?supp_page=wwl_top_ten&supp_lang=en</ref>

==Nazi-Fascist persecution==
Although far less hostile to Christianity than to Judaism, which the [[Nazism|Nazis]] [[the Holocaust|sought to exterminate]] throughout the [[Third Reich]] and lands that came under Nazi rule, Nazi [[totalitarianism]] demanded that all religious activity conform to the desires of Nazi leadership. Christian churches were obliged to accept the racist doctrines of Nazism. The [[Gestapo]] monitored Christian clergy and congregations for any semblance of dissent with Nazi policies, and many Christian clergy and laymen ended up in concentration camps when they asserted opposition to the teachings and practices of Nazism or if they acted upon pacifist convictions (like many [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and some [[Confessing Church]] members). During the early part of the Nazi rule, the "[[German Christians]]" were an important pseudo-Protestant tool of the regime to bring about the [[Gleichschaltung]] of the churches.

The expansion of [[Nazi Germany]] and the establishment of Nazi rule in occupied countries brought about persecutions ranging from those characteristic in Germany itself to conditions approaching those of the Soviet Union. Catholic priests in Poland that were opposed to the Nazis were taken to the concentration camps; many were murdered in the liquidation of the Polish [[intelligentsia]]. Due to its long historical association with [[Slavic Peoples|Slavic cultures]], Nazi occupation officials used collaborators such as the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Ustashe]] to specifically target [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] Christians in [[Yugoslavia]]. [[Roman Catholics]] were heavily persecuted in Nazi Germany because of their opposing views on [[Nazi eugenics]] and racial hatred.

In Italy the fascist regime of [[Mussolini]] persecuted [[Pentecostals]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and other Protestant groups following the [[Lateran Accords]] with the Roman Catholic church. In 1935, the interior minister [[Guido Buffarini Guidi]] ordered the complete break-up of the Pentecostalist network in Italy.<ref>[www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-7709.2005.00509.x For the Cause of Christ here in Italy]</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Persecution of Christians]]
[[Category:Christianity]]

Christian persecution

2007-08-28T11:14:13Z

Hornet35: /* Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations */

'''Christian persecution''' has occured from the very beginnings of Christianity and continues today. Currently more than 200 million Christians around the globe suffer imprisonment, abuse and sometimes death because of their faith.<ref>http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Christian/Persecution/</ref> In 1998, the publication ''[[The Voice of the Martyrs]]'' named 42 countries where Christians are facing persecution in various forms such as arrest, imprisonment, physical torture and death.<ref>http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1096.htm</ref>

Early [[Christian]] persecution was severe in Ancient [[Roman]]. In Ancient Rome, Christians were most commonly murdered by [[crucifixion]] and being put in arenas with [[lion]]s. The emperor [[Nero]] was one of the most notorious persecutors. Christians continue to be persecuted around the world today in [[communist]] countries like [[China]], and [[Islamic]] countries.

This persecution continued up through the fourth century, when Constantine's [[Edict of Milan]] in 317 A.D. promulgated a doctrine of religious tolerance. In 393 A.D., Christianity became the state religion of Rome, gaining strength after Constantine's conquest of Rome from his fellow ''caesars'' of the time.<ref>"... in 391 AD, Christianity became the official, and only, state religion of the empire." [http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Rome__Le.htm The Legacy of Rome] </ref>

Deep divisions remained within the Empire. Examples include:
# The [[Altar of Victory]] affair.
# The removal of avowed polytheists from office.

Persecution generally ended in the Roman Empire in 317 A.D., with the [[Edict of Milan]].

==Muslim persecution of Christians==
{{Main|Islam and Anti-Christian sentiment}}
===Ottoman Empire===

The new [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. [[Islam]] not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another [[People of the Book]]. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that [[Mehmed II|Mehmet the Conqueror]] did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, [[Gennadius Scholarius]]. The [[Hagia Sophia]] and the [[Parthenon]], which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because [[Islamic law]] makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]], or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made [[ethnarch]], head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.

However, these rights and privileges (see [[Dhimmitude]]), including freedom of worship and religious organization, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. The legal privileges of the patriarch and the Church depended, in fact, on the whim and mercy of the [[Sultan]] and the [[Sublime Porte]], while all Christians were viewed as little more than second-class citizens. Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality were not a myth. That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced this more than anyone else is not in doubt. Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries unknown (see [[Greco-Turkish relations]]).<ref name=AIHG-NYT>[http://www.aihgs.com/New%20York%20Times.htm The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies] ''The New York Times''.</ref> <ref>http://www.helleniccomserve.com/pdf/BlkBkPontusPrinceton.pdf</ref>Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.

The [[Ottoman Empire]] was marked by periods of limited tolerance and periods of often bloody repression of non-Muslims. The [[Janissary]] army corps consisted of young men who were brought to Istanbul as child-slaves (and were often from Christian households) who were converted, trained and later employed by the Sultan (the [[devshirme]] system).

===Turkey===
{{Main|Armenian Genocide|Pontic Greek Genocide|Assyrian Genocide}}
Things worsened after the Empire collapsed at the end of [[World War I]]. Nationalist movements like the [[Young Turks]] began persecuting and murdering [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Assyrians|Assyrian]] and other Christians in what is known as the [[Armenian Genocide|Armenian]], the [[Pontic Greek Genocide|Pontic Greek]] and the [[Assyrian Genocide]]s. This mass murder of Christians is fairly unknown today outside Greece and Armenia, despite taking place not very long ago (1915-1922). It is estimated that 1,500,000 Armenians, 750,000 [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] and another 350,000 [[Pontic Greeks]] were murdered and most had to abandon regions inhabited by them for thousands of years.

Since the establishment of the secular nationalist [[Republic of Turkey]], the number of Orthodox in the [[Anatolia]]n peninsula has sharply declined amidst complaints of Turkish governmental repression.{{Facts|date=June 2007}} These complaints include various perceived campaigns by the Turkish government against various Eastern and Oriental Orthodox groups such as the [[Istanbul Pogrom]] in 1955 and the closure of the [[Halki seminary]] in 1971 (along with private universities).

The [[Istanbul pogrom]] was a state-sponsored and state-orchestrated [[pogrom]] that compelled Greek Christians to leave [[Constantinople]] ([[Turkish language|Turkish]] Istanbul), the first Christian city in violation to the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (see [[Istanbul Pogrom]]). The issue of Christian genocides by the Turks may become a problem, since Turkey wishes to join the [[European Union]].<ref>http://euobserver.com/9/22331/?rk=1 "MEPs back Armenia genocide clause in Turkey report" by Lucia Kubosova, published by ''EU Observer'' on [[5 September]] [[2006]]</ref> The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] is still in a difficult position. Turkey requires by law that the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] must be an [[Greeks|ethnic Greek]], holding Turkish citizenship by birth, although most of the [[Greeks in Turkey|Greek minority]] has been expelled. The state's expropriation of church property and the closing of the Orthodox [[Halki seminary|Theological School of Halki]] are also difficulties faced by the Church of Constantinople. Despite appeals from the [[United States]], the [[European Union]] and various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the School remains closed since [[1971]]. Persecution of Christians is continuing in modern Turkey. On [[February 5]], [[2006]], the Catholic priest
[[Andrea Santoro]] was murdered in [[Trabzon]] by a student influenced by the massive anti-Christian propaganda in the Turkish popular press<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,437512,00.html|publisher=Der Spiegel Online|title=Goldenes Kreuz unter der Bluse|date=September 17, 2006}}</ref>, following the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]]. On [[April 18]], [[2007]], 3 Christians were [[Malatya bible publishing firm murders|brutally murdered]] in [[Malatya]] <ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,478074,00.html Der Spiegel, Three Killed at Bible Publishing Firm]</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour/news/story/2007/04/070419_turkey_slayings.shtml BBC, Christians Killed in Turkey]</ref>, the hometown of [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], the assassin who shot and wounded [[Pope John Paul II]] on [[May 13]], [[1981]].

===Persecution of Christians in Iraq===
The [[United Nations High Commission for Refugees]] reports that Christians comprise 44% of [[Refugees of Iraq|Iraqi refugees]], although only 4% of the overall population is [[Christian]].<ref>[http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7410 Terror campaign targets Chaldean church in Iraq]</ref> Northern Iraq remained predominantly Christian until the destructions of [[Tamerlane]] at the end of the [[14th century]]. The [[Church of the East]] has its origin in what is now South East [[Turkey]]. By the end of the [[13th century]] there were twelve [[Nestorian]] dioceses in a strip from [[Peking]] to [[Samarkand]]. When the a 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Tamerlane (Timul Lenk) conquered [[Persia]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Syria]], the civilian population was decimated. Timur Lenk had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in [[Tikrit]], and 90,000 more in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/somasushma/Timur4.html The annihilation of Iraq]{{Verify credibility|date=August 2007}}</ref><ref>http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/etnisk_b.exe?Assyrian</ref>

Ethnic [[Assyrians]] (most of whom are adherents of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]) account for most of Iraq's sizable Christian population, along with [[Armenians]].

Iraq's Christian community numbered 1.4 million in [[1980]] at the start of [[Iran-Iraq War]]. They were tolerated under the [[secular]] regime of [[Saddam Hussein]], who even made one of them, [[Tariq Aziz]], his deputy. But as the war has radicalised Islamic sensibilities, Christians have seen their total numbers slump to about 500,000 today, of whom 250,000 live in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1961207,00.html 'We're staying and we will resist']</ref> An exodus to the neighbouring countries of [[Syria]], [[Jordan]] and [[Turkey]] has left behind closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small minority without a militia of their own, Iraqi Christians have been persecuted by both [[Shi’a]] and [[Sunni]] Muslim militias, and also by criminal gangs.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1606015,00.html Iraq's Christians Flock to Lebanon]</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270377,00.html Christians Fleeing Violence in Iraq]</ref>

As of [[November 4]], [[2006]], the [[UNHCR]] estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.<ref> [http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/03/un_nearly_100000_flee_iraq_monthly/ U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly]. Alexander G. Higgins, ''[[Boston Globe]],'' [[November 3]], [[2006]]</ref> A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from [[Iraq]] have been granted [[refugee]] status in the [[United States]].<ref>Ann McFeatters: [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317322_mcfeatters27.html Iraq refugees find no refuge in America]. ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' May 25, 2007</ref>

One of the most recent tragic events of the present Iraqi situation for the Christian community is the assassination by [[Islam|Islamic]] [[terrorism|terrorists]] of Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. [[Ragheed Aziz Ganni]] and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in the ancient city of [[Mosul]].<ref name="frragheed">[http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2655894.ece Fr Ragheed Ganni -- The Independant (14 June 2007)]</ref> Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped by Muslim terrorists who demanded their conversion to Islam, when they refused the terrorists shot them.<ref name="frragheed" />

===Persecution of Christians in Kosovo===
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed overwhelmingly of Serbs (see [[Demographic history of Kosovo]]). Initially, former Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in [[1389]]. Christians within the Ottoman Empire were not violently persecuted but gradually Islamized through incentives such as property, reduced taxes and the right to bear arms. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople[http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture3.html]. The living conditions of the average serf in Kosovo improved druing the Ottoman occupation due to the rationalization of the Ottoman Timar system which was less demanding then previous feudal relations. Persecution of Christians has been limited to the Serbian Orthodox tardition and is ethnic not religious. Catholic's, most of whom were Albanian, were unmolested in Kosovo. The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in the destruction of 56 Serb Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, graveyards and other religious monuments, some of them being of great historical and architectural importance. The latest wave of anti-Serb violence was in March 2004 (see [[Unrest in Kosovo]]).{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

===Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon===
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims. Among the earliest was the [[Damour massacre|Damour Massacre]] in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological, and retaliation reasons. The [[Syria|Syrian regime]] was also involved in persecuting Christians as well as Muslims in Lebanon.<ref>http://phoenicia.org/christiansmea.html</ref><ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newssummpopup.php?newscode=4612&PHPSESSID=c7d2e762a581bd8981cacf23abafd68c</ref>

===Persecution of Christians in Sudan===
There is an abundance of evidence since the early 1990s of oppression and persecution of Christians, including by Sudan's own ''Sudan Human Rights Organization'', which in mid-1992 reported on forcible closure of churches, expulsion of priests, forced displacement of populations, forced [[Islamisation]] and [[Arabisation]], and other repressive measures of the Government. In 1994 it also reported on widespread torture, ethnic cleansing and crucifixion of pastors. [[Pax Christi]] has also reported on detailed cases in 1994, as has Africa Watch. Roman Catholic bishop Macram Max Gassis, Bishop of [[El Obeid]], also reported to the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, in February 1994 on accounts of widespread destruction of hundreds of churches, forced conversions of Christians to Islam, [[concentration camps]], genocide of the [[Nuba]] people, systematic rape of women, enslavement of children, torture of priests and clerics, burning alive of pastors and catechists, [[crucifixion]] and [[mutilation]] of priests. The foregoing therefore serve to indict the Sudanese Government itself for flagrant violations of human rights and religious freedom.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In addition, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the [[Janjaweed]], the Arab Muslim militia, and even suspected [[Islamists]] in northern Sudan since 1984.[http://www.religioustolerance.org/geno_su.htm]

It should also be noted that Sudan's several civil wars (which often take the form of genocidal campaigns) are often not only or purely religious in nature, but also ethnic, as many black Muslims, as well as Muslim Arab tribesmen, have also been killed in the conflicts.

===Persecution of Christians in Pakistan===
====Blasphemy laws====
In Pakistan 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. On [[July 28]], [[1994]] [[Amnesty International]] urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, [[Benazir Bhutto]], to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the [[Nawaz Sharif]] administration which was backed by [[Muslim fundamentalists]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, [[Salman Rushdie]], author of ''[[The Satanic Verses]]''. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.<ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm</ref>

On September 22, 2006 a Pakistani Christian named Shahid Masih was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating Islamic "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan. He is presently held in confinement and has expressed fear of reprisals by [[Islamic Fundamentalists]].<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7248</ref>

====Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists====
The Christian community in Pakistan is frequently the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/south_asia/2183204.stm Pakistan's Christians under siege -- BBC]</ref>

On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church.

On September 25, 2002 two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", [[Karachi]], where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then executed eight Christians by shooting them in the head [http://www.domini.org/openbook/pak20020925.htm]. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.

In November [[2005]] 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed [[Roman Catholic]], [[Salvation Army]] and United [[Presbyterian]] churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.<ref>http://www.missio-aachen.de/menschen-kulturen/nachrichten/Sangla_Hill_attack_continues_to_draw_condemnation.asp</ref> However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4928</ref>

In February 2006 churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|Jyllands-Posten]] cartoons in [[Denmark]], leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.<ref>http://www.christianresponse.org/articles/291/cartoon-protestors-in-pakistan-target-christians</ref>

On June 5, 2006 a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near [[Lahore]] when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog". Bystanders encouraged the beating and joined in. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized.<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51859 Christian beaten for drinking water], Worldnet Daily</ref><ref>[http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsviewsdetails.php?newsid=578 Christian attacked for polluting],''Pakistan Christian Post''</ref>

In August of 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of [[Lahore]], Pakistan in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.<ref name="cp23922">http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060822/23922.htm</ref>

Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.<ref name="cp23922" />

===Attacks on Christians by Islamists in Indonesia===
Religious conflicts have typically occurred in [[western New Guinea]], [[Maluku]] (particularly [[Ambon Island|Ambon]]), and [[Sulawesi]]. The presence of Muslims in these regions is largely due to [[Suharto]]'s ''[[transmigrasi]]'' plan of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical [[Islamist]] organizations such as [[Jemaah Islamiah]] or [[Laskar Jihad]] to impose [[Sharia]]. The following list is far from comprehensive:
*[[1998]] - 500 Christian churches burned down in [[Java (island)|Java]].
*November, [[1998]] - 22 churches in [[Jakarta]] are burned down. 13 Christians killed.
*[[Christmas]] Day [[1998]] - 180 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in [[Poso]], [[Central Sulawesi]].
*[[Easter]] [[2000]] - 800 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
*[[May 23]], [[2000]] - Christians fight back against a Muslim [[Crowd|mob]]. 700 people die.
*June, [[2001]] - the [[Laskar Jihad]] declares [[Jihad]] against Christians. Muslim [[citizen]]s are recruited by the thousands to exterminate Christians.
*[[May 28]], [[2005]] - A bomb is exploded in a crowded market in [[Tentena]], killing 28. This marks the highest death toll due to bombing after the devastating attacks in [[Bali]].<ref>http://www.persecution.org/news/press2001-03-09.html</ref>
*[[October 29]], [[2005]] three school girls were found [[beheaded]] near Poso. The girls, students at [[Central Sulawesi Christian Church]], were killed by six unidentified assailants while on their way to class.

===Discrimination and persecution in other Muslim nations===
In [[Saudi Arabia]] Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=23</ref> Bibles and other non-Muslim religious books are captured, piled up and burned by the religious police of Saudi. No non-Muslims are allowed to become Saudi citizens. Prayer services by Christians are frequently broken up by the police and the Christians are arrested and tortured without even allowing them to be released on bail.

In [[Egypt]] the government does not officially recognise conversions from Islam to Christianity; because certain interfaith marriages are not allowed either, this prevents marriages between converts to Christianity and those born in Christian communities, and also results in the children of Christian converts being classified as Muslims and given a Muslim education. The government also requires permits for repairing churches or building new ones, which are often withheld. Foreign missionaries are allowed in the country only if they restrict their activities to social improvements and refrain from proselytizing. The [[Coptic Christianity|Coptic]] [[Pope Shenouda III]] was internally exiled in [[1981]] by President [[Anwar Sadat]], who then chose five Coptic bishops and asked them to choose a new pope. They refused, and in [[1985]] President [[Hosni Mubarak]] restored Pope Shenouda III, who had been accused of fomenting interconfessional strife. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist [[Islamist]] groups such as the [[Gama'at Islamiya]] during the 1980s was accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches; these have since declined with the decline of those organizations, but still continue. The police have been accused of siding with the attackers in some of these cases.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/589977.stm</ref> Nevertheless, high-ranking government officials in Egypt have included Copts like [[Boutros Ghali]] and his grandson, [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]].

There have been anti-Christian incidents carried out in areas governed by the [[Palestinian Authority]]. Some claim that this represents a pattern of deliberate mistreatment by the PA;<ref>http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july02/arafatland.html</ref> others hold that these are isolated incidents that reflect the beliefs of the individuals involved, but not the society in general.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=36</ref><ref>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/764947.html</ref> Two American courts, one in Illinois and the other in North Carolina, accepted the threat of "religious persecution" as grounds for granting asylum to Evangelical converts fleeing PA territory.
There is an ongoing trend for emigration among [[Palestinian Christian]]s doubling that of Muslims.
The ratio of Christians among Palestinians went from 18%-20% in 1947 to 13% in 1966 to 2.1% in 1993.<ref name="DonWagner">''[http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/pubs/20020312ib.html Palestinian Christians: An Historic Community at Risk?]'', by Don Wagner (Palestine Center - Information Brief No. 89, 12 March 2002) quoting [[Bethlehem University]] sociologist [[Bernard Sabella]] (see [http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm Palestinian Christians: Challenges and Hopes]).</ref> Among the causes there are the insecurity of living under Israeli rule after the 1967 [[Six Day War]], the comparatively warmer welcome that Christians have in the Americas and the rise of Islamism in Palestine politics

Though [[Iran]] recognizes [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] and [[Armenian people|Armenian]] Christians as a religious minority (along with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in the [[Majlis of Iran|Parliament]], after the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 Revolution]], Muslim converts to Christianity (typically to Protestant Christianity) have been arrested and sometimes executed. <ref>{{cite web|title=Iran Religious and Ethnic Minorities: Discrimination in Law And Practice|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=1997|url=http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-05.htm|accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref> ''See also: [[Christianity in Iran]]''.

In the Philippines, the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] and [[Abu Sayyaf]] has attacked and killed Christians.<ref>http://persecution.org/Countries/philippines.html</ref>

[[Abdul Rahman (convert)|Abdul Rahman]], a 41-year-old Afghan citizen, was charged in Afghanistan with rejecting Islam ([[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]]), a crime punishable by death under [[Sharia]] law. He has since been released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4823874.stm</ref><ref>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7BB654F1-7D5C-4E7D-B251-28A6E20A461D.htm</ref>

==Atheist persecution of Christians==
===The Dechristianization program during the French Reign of Terror===
The [[Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution]] is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the [[French Revolution]] in [[1789]] and the [[Concordat of 1801]].

The program of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included:

*the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
*the closing of churches,
*the institution of atheistic and deist cults, including the [[Cult of Reason]] and subsequently the [[Cult of the Supreme Being]],
*the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
*the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
*forced marriages of the clergy,
*forced abjurement of priesthood, and
*the enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
<ref>Latreille, A. FRENCH REVOLUTION, New Catholic Encyclopedia v. 5, pp. 972-973 (Second Ed. 2002 Thompson/Gale) ISBN 0-7876-4004-2</ref>

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] Cathedral on 10 November.

The dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. By early [[1795]] a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on [[February 21]], 1795 legalized public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the [[Christian cross]] were still forbidden. As late as [[1799]], priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and persecution only worsened after the French army led by General [[Louis Alexandre Berthier]] captured [[Rome]] and imprisoned [[Pope Pius VI]], who would die in captivity in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] now in ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope, [[Pope Pius VII|Pius VII]], led to the [[Concordat of 1801]], formally ending the dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the church and the French State.

Victims of the [[Reign of Terror]] totaled approximately 40,000. Among those people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 6 percent clergy <ref>[http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=209830 Harvey, Donald Joseph FRENCH REVOLUTION, History.com 2006 (Accessed April 27,2007)]</ref> and countless others were killed or persecuted because of their faith. Of the various social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.

===Communist persecution of Christians===
[[Marxism|Marxist]] ideology promotes atheism.<ref>Symbols, Conflict, and Identity: Essays in Political Anthropology by Zdzisław Mach, page 152</ref> This can often lead communist-states to persecute Christians as well as other [[theism|theists]].

====Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union====
After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] from the government and [[Russia]]n society, and to make the state [[atheist]]. Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as warehouses. Monasteries were closed and often converted to prison camps, most notably the Solovetz monastery becoming [[Solovki]] camp. Many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-government activities. These victims are now recognized as the "[[New Martyrs]]" by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], the old martyrs being the victims of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] persecutions. Church property, including the icons and other objects of worship (especially those made of precious metals) was confiscated and put to other uses.

While religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Constitution actually guaranteed religious freedom to all Soviet citizens, persecution was still government policy.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church abated during [[World War II]], at which time [[Stalin]]'s government reached a truce with the Church in order to use it as part of its program to inspire Russian [[patriotic]] fervor. Nevertheless, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government sought to put the Church under control by appointing loyal men as priests, allegedly ending up with the entire upper ranks of the Church being officers of the [[KGB]].

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the celebration of [[Christmas]] and the traditional Russian holiday of New Year (Feast of the Circumcision of Christ) was prohibited (later on New Year was reinstated as a secular holiday and is now the most significant family holiday in [[Russia]]). Gatherings and religious processions were initially prohibited and later on strictly limited and regulated. In later years, a more subtle method of disrupting Christian holidays involved broadcasting very popular movies one after the other on the major holidays when believers are expected to participate in religious processions, especially during the [[Easter]] celebration. Apparently, this was intended to keep those whose faith was uncertain or wavering in their homes and glued to their [[Television|TV]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

An intense ideological anti-Christian and anti-religious campaign was carried out throughout the history of the [[Soviet Union]]. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, not to become believers. The role of the Christian religion and the [[Church]] was painted in black colors in school textbooks. For instance, much emphasis was placed on the role of the Church in such historical horror stories as the [[Inquisition]], persecution of [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], [[Giordano Bruno]], and other heretical scientists, and the [[Crusades]]. School students were encouraged to taunt and use [[peer pressure]] against classmates wearing crosses or otherwise professing their faith. In the 1920s there were many "anti-God" publications and social clubs sponsored by the government, most notably the scathingly satirical "[[Godless at the Workbench]]" ("Bezbozhnik u Stanka" in Russian). Later on, these disappeared because a new generation has grown up essentially [[atheist]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

A "scientific" perspective was used to attack religion extensively. The Church was portrayed as obscurantist and opposed to the findings of [[science]]. Much was made of alleged Christian belief in the literal [[Creation (theology)|Creation]] account in the book of [[Genesis]] which the pro-[[Darwinian]] textbooks ridiculed.{{Fact|date=May 2007}} As part of the anti-foreign and anti-capitalist propaganda, an effort was made, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, to imprint in the minds of the people an image of the [[Western Culture|West]] as dominated by the anti-scientific ignorance of the Church, as opposed to the scientifically "progressive" [[atheist]] Soviet state.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In general, Christianity was portrayed as corrupt, hypocritical, a loyal servant of the reactionary [[czar]], obscurantist, "opium for the people" according to [[Karl Marx]], and otherwise evil. This [[Communist]] persecution of the Church proved enormously successful. Within the span of one generation, the traditionally highly devout Russian people became overwhelmingly [[atheist]]. This transformation was, for the most part, complete by the 1950s. As such, it counted as one of the greatest and the most successful persecutions Christianity had ever experienced, on par only with the destruction of Christianity in the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], and [[Asia Minor]] by the [[Islamic]] and [[Turkey|Turkish]] conquests.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

After the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], the government of [[Russia]] openly embraced the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and there was a reputed renaissance in the number of the faithful in [[Russia]]. As of 2004 it is generally noted, however, that whereas a very large percent of Russians today identify themselves as believers and members of the Church (up from a very small group in the Soviet days), still relatively few of them actually attend [[church]] regularly, read the [[Bible]], or otherwise take their [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with the [[Church]] seriously. For many, it seems, [[faith]] has become a matter of personal identification and readiness to [[Baptism|baptize]] their children or have church [[marriage]] and [[burial]] ceremonies, and not much else. This is a clear testimony to the completeness and the long term success of the Communist persecution of the Christianity in [[Russia]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

[[Richard Wurmbrand]], author of ''[[Tortured for Christ]]'' described the systematic persecution of Christians in one East Bloc nation. Many Christian believers in the Soviet Union have told of being imprisoned for no other reason than believing in God. Many have recently been canonized as [[saint]]s following their death at the hands of Soviet authorities; they are collectively referred to in the Orthodox Church as the "new martyrs". (See also [[Enemy of the people]], [[Gulag]], [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]], [[Varlam Shalamov]])

====Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations====
[[Enver Hoxha]] conducted a campaign to extinguish all forms of religion in [[Albania]] in [[1967]], closing all religious buildings and declaring the state atheist. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that actually outlawed religion. See [[Communist and post-Communist Albania]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

However, persecution of Christians, especially Protestants, [[Pentecostals]] and non-registered minority denominations, has continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, in many countries in [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Central Asia]], notably [[Tajikistan]], [[Uzbekistan]] and [[Human rights in Belarus|Belarus]].

====Persecution of Christians in North Korea====
{{Expand-section|date=August 2007}}
Persecution of Christians is currently the worst in North Korea.<ref>http://sb.od.org/index.php?supp_page=wwl_top_ten&supp_lang=en</ref>

==Nazi-Fascist persecution==
Although far less hostile to Christianity than to Judaism, which the [[Nazism|Nazis]] [[the Holocaust|sought to exterminate]] throughout the [[Third Reich]] and lands that came under Nazi rule, Nazi [[totalitarianism]] demanded that all religious activity conform to the desires of Nazi leadership. Christian churches were obliged to accept the racist doctrines of Nazism. The [[Gestapo]] monitored Christian clergy and congregations for any semblance of dissent with Nazi policies, and many Christian clergy and laymen ended up in concentration camps when they asserted opposition to the teachings and practices of Nazism or if they acted upon pacifist convictions (like many [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and some [[Confessing Church]] members). During the early part of the Nazi rule, the "[[German Christians]]" were an important pseudo-Protestant tool of the regime to bring about the [[Gleichschaltung]] of the churches.

The expansion of [[Nazi Germany]] and the establishment of Nazi rule in occupied countries brought about persecutions ranging from those characteristic in Germany itself to conditions approaching those of the Soviet Union. Catholic priests in Poland that were opposed to the Nazis were taken to the concentration camps; many were murdered in the liquidation of the Polish [[intelligentsia]]. Due to its long historical association with [[Slavic Peoples|Slavic cultures]], Nazi occupation officials used collaborators such as the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Ustashe]] to specifically target [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] Christians in [[Yugoslavia]]. [[Roman Catholics]] were heavily persecuted in Nazi Germany because of their opposing views on [[Nazi eugenics]] and racial hatred.

In Italy the fascist regime of [[Mussolini]] persecuted [[Pentecostals]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and other Protestant groups following the [[Lateran Accords]] with the Roman Catholic church. In 1935, the interior minister [[Guido Buffarini Guidi]] ordered the complete break-up of the Pentecostalist network in Italy.<ref>[www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-7709.2005.00509.x For the Cause of Christ here in Italy]</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Persecution of Christians]]
[[Category:Christianity]]

Christian persecution

2007-08-28T11:14:03Z

Hornet35: /* Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union */

'''Christian persecution''' has occured from the very beginnings of Christianity and continues today. Currently more than 200 million Christians around the globe suffer imprisonment, abuse and sometimes death because of their faith.<ref>http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Christian/Persecution/</ref> In 1998, the publication ''[[The Voice of the Martyrs]]'' named 42 countries where Christians are facing persecution in various forms such as arrest, imprisonment, physical torture and death.<ref>http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1096.htm</ref>

Early [[Christian]] persecution was severe in Ancient [[Roman]]. In Ancient Rome, Christians were most commonly murdered by [[crucifixion]] and being put in arenas with [[lion]]s. The emperor [[Nero]] was one of the most notorious persecutors. Christians continue to be persecuted around the world today in [[communist]] countries like [[China]], and [[Islamic]] countries.

This persecution continued up through the fourth century, when Constantine's [[Edict of Milan]] in 317 A.D. promulgated a doctrine of religious tolerance. In 393 A.D., Christianity became the state religion of Rome, gaining strength after Constantine's conquest of Rome from his fellow ''caesars'' of the time.<ref>"... in 391 AD, Christianity became the official, and only, state religion of the empire." [http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Rome__Le.htm The Legacy of Rome] </ref>

Deep divisions remained within the Empire. Examples include:
# The [[Altar of Victory]] affair.
# The removal of avowed polytheists from office.

Persecution generally ended in the Roman Empire in 317 A.D., with the [[Edict of Milan]].

==Muslim persecution of Christians==
{{Main|Islam and Anti-Christian sentiment}}
===Ottoman Empire===

The new [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. [[Islam]] not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another [[People of the Book]]. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that [[Mehmed II|Mehmet the Conqueror]] did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, [[Gennadius Scholarius]]. The [[Hagia Sophia]] and the [[Parthenon]], which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because [[Islamic law]] makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]], or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made [[ethnarch]], head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.

However, these rights and privileges (see [[Dhimmitude]]), including freedom of worship and religious organization, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. The legal privileges of the patriarch and the Church depended, in fact, on the whim and mercy of the [[Sultan]] and the [[Sublime Porte]], while all Christians were viewed as little more than second-class citizens. Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality were not a myth. That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced this more than anyone else is not in doubt. Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries unknown (see [[Greco-Turkish relations]]).<ref name=AIHG-NYT>[http://www.aihgs.com/New%20York%20Times.htm The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies] ''The New York Times''.</ref> <ref>http://www.helleniccomserve.com/pdf/BlkBkPontusPrinceton.pdf</ref>Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.

The [[Ottoman Empire]] was marked by periods of limited tolerance and periods of often bloody repression of non-Muslims. The [[Janissary]] army corps consisted of young men who were brought to Istanbul as child-slaves (and were often from Christian households) who were converted, trained and later employed by the Sultan (the [[devshirme]] system).

===Turkey===
{{Main|Armenian Genocide|Pontic Greek Genocide|Assyrian Genocide}}
Things worsened after the Empire collapsed at the end of [[World War I]]. Nationalist movements like the [[Young Turks]] began persecuting and murdering [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Assyrians|Assyrian]] and other Christians in what is known as the [[Armenian Genocide|Armenian]], the [[Pontic Greek Genocide|Pontic Greek]] and the [[Assyrian Genocide]]s. This mass murder of Christians is fairly unknown today outside Greece and Armenia, despite taking place not very long ago (1915-1922). It is estimated that 1,500,000 Armenians, 750,000 [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] and another 350,000 [[Pontic Greeks]] were murdered and most had to abandon regions inhabited by them for thousands of years.

Since the establishment of the secular nationalist [[Republic of Turkey]], the number of Orthodox in the [[Anatolia]]n peninsula has sharply declined amidst complaints of Turkish governmental repression.{{Facts|date=June 2007}} These complaints include various perceived campaigns by the Turkish government against various Eastern and Oriental Orthodox groups such as the [[Istanbul Pogrom]] in 1955 and the closure of the [[Halki seminary]] in 1971 (along with private universities).

The [[Istanbul pogrom]] was a state-sponsored and state-orchestrated [[pogrom]] that compelled Greek Christians to leave [[Constantinople]] ([[Turkish language|Turkish]] Istanbul), the first Christian city in violation to the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (see [[Istanbul Pogrom]]). The issue of Christian genocides by the Turks may become a problem, since Turkey wishes to join the [[European Union]].<ref>http://euobserver.com/9/22331/?rk=1 "MEPs back Armenia genocide clause in Turkey report" by Lucia Kubosova, published by ''EU Observer'' on [[5 September]] [[2006]]</ref> The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] is still in a difficult position. Turkey requires by law that the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] must be an [[Greeks|ethnic Greek]], holding Turkish citizenship by birth, although most of the [[Greeks in Turkey|Greek minority]] has been expelled. The state's expropriation of church property and the closing of the Orthodox [[Halki seminary|Theological School of Halki]] are also difficulties faced by the Church of Constantinople. Despite appeals from the [[United States]], the [[European Union]] and various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the School remains closed since [[1971]]. Persecution of Christians is continuing in modern Turkey. On [[February 5]], [[2006]], the Catholic priest
[[Andrea Santoro]] was murdered in [[Trabzon]] by a student influenced by the massive anti-Christian propaganda in the Turkish popular press<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,437512,00.html|publisher=Der Spiegel Online|title=Goldenes Kreuz unter der Bluse|date=September 17, 2006}}</ref>, following the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]]. On [[April 18]], [[2007]], 3 Christians were [[Malatya bible publishing firm murders|brutally murdered]] in [[Malatya]] <ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,478074,00.html Der Spiegel, Three Killed at Bible Publishing Firm]</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour/news/story/2007/04/070419_turkey_slayings.shtml BBC, Christians Killed in Turkey]</ref>, the hometown of [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], the assassin who shot and wounded [[Pope John Paul II]] on [[May 13]], [[1981]].

===Persecution of Christians in Iraq===
The [[United Nations High Commission for Refugees]] reports that Christians comprise 44% of [[Refugees of Iraq|Iraqi refugees]], although only 4% of the overall population is [[Christian]].<ref>[http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7410 Terror campaign targets Chaldean church in Iraq]</ref> Northern Iraq remained predominantly Christian until the destructions of [[Tamerlane]] at the end of the [[14th century]]. The [[Church of the East]] has its origin in what is now South East [[Turkey]]. By the end of the [[13th century]] there were twelve [[Nestorian]] dioceses in a strip from [[Peking]] to [[Samarkand]]. When the a 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Tamerlane (Timul Lenk) conquered [[Persia]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Syria]], the civilian population was decimated. Timur Lenk had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in [[Tikrit]], and 90,000 more in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/somasushma/Timur4.html The annihilation of Iraq]{{Verify credibility|date=August 2007}}</ref><ref>http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/etnisk_b.exe?Assyrian</ref>

Ethnic [[Assyrians]] (most of whom are adherents of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]) account for most of Iraq's sizable Christian population, along with [[Armenians]].

Iraq's Christian community numbered 1.4 million in [[1980]] at the start of [[Iran-Iraq War]]. They were tolerated under the [[secular]] regime of [[Saddam Hussein]], who even made one of them, [[Tariq Aziz]], his deputy. But as the war has radicalised Islamic sensibilities, Christians have seen their total numbers slump to about 500,000 today, of whom 250,000 live in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1961207,00.html 'We're staying and we will resist']</ref> An exodus to the neighbouring countries of [[Syria]], [[Jordan]] and [[Turkey]] has left behind closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small minority without a militia of their own, Iraqi Christians have been persecuted by both [[Shi’a]] and [[Sunni]] Muslim militias, and also by criminal gangs.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1606015,00.html Iraq's Christians Flock to Lebanon]</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270377,00.html Christians Fleeing Violence in Iraq]</ref>

As of [[November 4]], [[2006]], the [[UNHCR]] estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.<ref> [http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/03/un_nearly_100000_flee_iraq_monthly/ U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly]. Alexander G. Higgins, ''[[Boston Globe]],'' [[November 3]], [[2006]]</ref> A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from [[Iraq]] have been granted [[refugee]] status in the [[United States]].<ref>Ann McFeatters: [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317322_mcfeatters27.html Iraq refugees find no refuge in America]. ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' May 25, 2007</ref>

One of the most recent tragic events of the present Iraqi situation for the Christian community is the assassination by [[Islam|Islamic]] [[terrorism|terrorists]] of Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. [[Ragheed Aziz Ganni]] and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in the ancient city of [[Mosul]].<ref name="frragheed">[http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2655894.ece Fr Ragheed Ganni -- The Independant (14 June 2007)]</ref> Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped by Muslim terrorists who demanded their conversion to Islam, when they refused the terrorists shot them.<ref name="frragheed" />

===Persecution of Christians in Kosovo===
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed overwhelmingly of Serbs (see [[Demographic history of Kosovo]]). Initially, former Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in [[1389]]. Christians within the Ottoman Empire were not violently persecuted but gradually Islamized through incentives such as property, reduced taxes and the right to bear arms. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople[http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture3.html]. The living conditions of the average serf in Kosovo improved druing the Ottoman occupation due to the rationalization of the Ottoman Timar system which was less demanding then previous feudal relations. Persecution of Christians has been limited to the Serbian Orthodox tardition and is ethnic not religious. Catholic's, most of whom were Albanian, were unmolested in Kosovo. The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in the destruction of 56 Serb Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, graveyards and other religious monuments, some of them being of great historical and architectural importance. The latest wave of anti-Serb violence was in March 2004 (see [[Unrest in Kosovo]]).{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

===Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon===
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims. Among the earliest was the [[Damour massacre|Damour Massacre]] in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological, and retaliation reasons. The [[Syria|Syrian regime]] was also involved in persecuting Christians as well as Muslims in Lebanon.<ref>http://phoenicia.org/christiansmea.html</ref><ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newssummpopup.php?newscode=4612&PHPSESSID=c7d2e762a581bd8981cacf23abafd68c</ref>

===Persecution of Christians in Sudan===
There is an abundance of evidence since the early 1990s of oppression and persecution of Christians, including by Sudan's own ''Sudan Human Rights Organization'', which in mid-1992 reported on forcible closure of churches, expulsion of priests, forced displacement of populations, forced [[Islamisation]] and [[Arabisation]], and other repressive measures of the Government. In 1994 it also reported on widespread torture, ethnic cleansing and crucifixion of pastors. [[Pax Christi]] has also reported on detailed cases in 1994, as has Africa Watch. Roman Catholic bishop Macram Max Gassis, Bishop of [[El Obeid]], also reported to the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, in February 1994 on accounts of widespread destruction of hundreds of churches, forced conversions of Christians to Islam, [[concentration camps]], genocide of the [[Nuba]] people, systematic rape of women, enslavement of children, torture of priests and clerics, burning alive of pastors and catechists, [[crucifixion]] and [[mutilation]] of priests. The foregoing therefore serve to indict the Sudanese Government itself for flagrant violations of human rights and religious freedom.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In addition, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the [[Janjaweed]], the Arab Muslim militia, and even suspected [[Islamists]] in northern Sudan since 1984.[http://www.religioustolerance.org/geno_su.htm]

It should also be noted that Sudan's several civil wars (which often take the form of genocidal campaigns) are often not only or purely religious in nature, but also ethnic, as many black Muslims, as well as Muslim Arab tribesmen, have also been killed in the conflicts.

===Persecution of Christians in Pakistan===
====Blasphemy laws====
In Pakistan 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. On [[July 28]], [[1994]] [[Amnesty International]] urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, [[Benazir Bhutto]], to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the [[Nawaz Sharif]] administration which was backed by [[Muslim fundamentalists]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, [[Salman Rushdie]], author of ''[[The Satanic Verses]]''. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.<ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm</ref>

On September 22, 2006 a Pakistani Christian named Shahid Masih was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating Islamic "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan. He is presently held in confinement and has expressed fear of reprisals by [[Islamic Fundamentalists]].<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7248</ref>

====Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists====
The Christian community in Pakistan is frequently the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/south_asia/2183204.stm Pakistan's Christians under siege -- BBC]</ref>

On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church.

On September 25, 2002 two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", [[Karachi]], where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then executed eight Christians by shooting them in the head [http://www.domini.org/openbook/pak20020925.htm]. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.

In November [[2005]] 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed [[Roman Catholic]], [[Salvation Army]] and United [[Presbyterian]] churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.<ref>http://www.missio-aachen.de/menschen-kulturen/nachrichten/Sangla_Hill_attack_continues_to_draw_condemnation.asp</ref> However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4928</ref>

In February 2006 churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|Jyllands-Posten]] cartoons in [[Denmark]], leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.<ref>http://www.christianresponse.org/articles/291/cartoon-protestors-in-pakistan-target-christians</ref>

On June 5, 2006 a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near [[Lahore]] when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog". Bystanders encouraged the beating and joined in. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized.<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51859 Christian beaten for drinking water], Worldnet Daily</ref><ref>[http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsviewsdetails.php?newsid=578 Christian attacked for polluting],''Pakistan Christian Post''</ref>

In August of 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of [[Lahore]], Pakistan in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.<ref name="cp23922">http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060822/23922.htm</ref>

Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.<ref name="cp23922" />

===Attacks on Christians by Islamists in Indonesia===
Religious conflicts have typically occurred in [[western New Guinea]], [[Maluku]] (particularly [[Ambon Island|Ambon]]), and [[Sulawesi]]. The presence of Muslims in these regions is largely due to [[Suharto]]'s ''[[transmigrasi]]'' plan of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical [[Islamist]] organizations such as [[Jemaah Islamiah]] or [[Laskar Jihad]] to impose [[Sharia]]. The following list is far from comprehensive:
*[[1998]] - 500 Christian churches burned down in [[Java (island)|Java]].
*November, [[1998]] - 22 churches in [[Jakarta]] are burned down. 13 Christians killed.
*[[Christmas]] Day [[1998]] - 180 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in [[Poso]], [[Central Sulawesi]].
*[[Easter]] [[2000]] - 800 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
*[[May 23]], [[2000]] - Christians fight back against a Muslim [[Crowd|mob]]. 700 people die.
*June, [[2001]] - the [[Laskar Jihad]] declares [[Jihad]] against Christians. Muslim [[citizen]]s are recruited by the thousands to exterminate Christians.
*[[May 28]], [[2005]] - A bomb is exploded in a crowded market in [[Tentena]], killing 28. This marks the highest death toll due to bombing after the devastating attacks in [[Bali]].<ref>http://www.persecution.org/news/press2001-03-09.html</ref>
*[[October 29]], [[2005]] three school girls were found [[beheaded]] near Poso. The girls, students at [[Central Sulawesi Christian Church]], were killed by six unidentified assailants while on their way to class.

===Discrimination and persecution in other Muslim nations===
In [[Saudi Arabia]] Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=23</ref> Bibles and other non-Muslim religious books are captured, piled up and burned by the religious police of Saudi. No non-Muslims are allowed to become Saudi citizens. Prayer services by Christians are frequently broken up by the police and the Christians are arrested and tortured without even allowing them to be released on bail.

In [[Egypt]] the government does not officially recognise conversions from Islam to Christianity; because certain interfaith marriages are not allowed either, this prevents marriages between converts to Christianity and those born in Christian communities, and also results in the children of Christian converts being classified as Muslims and given a Muslim education. The government also requires permits for repairing churches or building new ones, which are often withheld. Foreign missionaries are allowed in the country only if they restrict their activities to social improvements and refrain from proselytizing. The [[Coptic Christianity|Coptic]] [[Pope Shenouda III]] was internally exiled in [[1981]] by President [[Anwar Sadat]], who then chose five Coptic bishops and asked them to choose a new pope. They refused, and in [[1985]] President [[Hosni Mubarak]] restored Pope Shenouda III, who had been accused of fomenting interconfessional strife. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist [[Islamist]] groups such as the [[Gama'at Islamiya]] during the 1980s was accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches; these have since declined with the decline of those organizations, but still continue. The police have been accused of siding with the attackers in some of these cases.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/589977.stm</ref> Nevertheless, high-ranking government officials in Egypt have included Copts like [[Boutros Ghali]] and his grandson, [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]].

There have been anti-Christian incidents carried out in areas governed by the [[Palestinian Authority]]. Some claim that this represents a pattern of deliberate mistreatment by the PA;<ref>http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july02/arafatland.html</ref> others hold that these are isolated incidents that reflect the beliefs of the individuals involved, but not the society in general.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=36</ref><ref>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/764947.html</ref> Two American courts, one in Illinois and the other in North Carolina, accepted the threat of "religious persecution" as grounds for granting asylum to Evangelical converts fleeing PA territory.
There is an ongoing trend for emigration among [[Palestinian Christian]]s doubling that of Muslims.
The ratio of Christians among Palestinians went from 18%-20% in 1947 to 13% in 1966 to 2.1% in 1993.<ref name="DonWagner">''[http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/pubs/20020312ib.html Palestinian Christians: An Historic Community at Risk?]'', by Don Wagner (Palestine Center - Information Brief No. 89, 12 March 2002) quoting [[Bethlehem University]] sociologist [[Bernard Sabella]] (see [http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm Palestinian Christians: Challenges and Hopes]).</ref> Among the causes there are the insecurity of living under Israeli rule after the 1967 [[Six Day War]], the comparatively warmer welcome that Christians have in the Americas and the rise of Islamism in Palestine politics

Though [[Iran]] recognizes [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] and [[Armenian people|Armenian]] Christians as a religious minority (along with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in the [[Majlis of Iran|Parliament]], after the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 Revolution]], Muslim converts to Christianity (typically to Protestant Christianity) have been arrested and sometimes executed. <ref>{{cite web|title=Iran Religious and Ethnic Minorities: Discrimination in Law And Practice|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=1997|url=http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-05.htm|accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref> ''See also: [[Christianity in Iran]]''.

In the Philippines, the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] and [[Abu Sayyaf]] has attacked and killed Christians.<ref>http://persecution.org/Countries/philippines.html</ref>

[[Abdul Rahman (convert)|Abdul Rahman]], a 41-year-old Afghan citizen, was charged in Afghanistan with rejecting Islam ([[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]]), a crime punishable by death under [[Sharia]] law. He has since been released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4823874.stm</ref><ref>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7BB654F1-7D5C-4E7D-B251-28A6E20A461D.htm</ref>

==Atheist persecution of Christians==
===The Dechristianization program during the French Reign of Terror===
The [[Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution]] is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the [[French Revolution]] in [[1789]] and the [[Concordat of 1801]].

The program of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included:

*the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
*the closing of churches,
*the institution of atheistic and deist cults, including the [[Cult of Reason]] and subsequently the [[Cult of the Supreme Being]],
*the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
*the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
*forced marriages of the clergy,
*forced abjurement of priesthood, and
*the enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
<ref>Latreille, A. FRENCH REVOLUTION, New Catholic Encyclopedia v. 5, pp. 972-973 (Second Ed. 2002 Thompson/Gale) ISBN 0-7876-4004-2</ref>

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] Cathedral on 10 November.

The dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. By early [[1795]] a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on [[February 21]], 1795 legalized public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the [[Christian cross]] were still forbidden. As late as [[1799]], priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and persecution only worsened after the French army led by General [[Louis Alexandre Berthier]] captured [[Rome]] and imprisoned [[Pope Pius VI]], who would die in captivity in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] now in ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope, [[Pope Pius VII|Pius VII]], led to the [[Concordat of 1801]], formally ending the dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the church and the French State.

Victims of the [[Reign of Terror]] totaled approximately 40,000. Among those people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 6 percent clergy <ref>[http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=209830 Harvey, Donald Joseph FRENCH REVOLUTION, History.com 2006 (Accessed April 27,2007)]</ref> and countless others were killed or persecuted because of their faith. Of the various social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.

===Communist persecution of Christians===
[[Marxism|Marxist]] ideology promotes atheism.<ref>Symbols, Conflict, and Identity: Essays in Political Anthropology by Zdzisław Mach, page 152</ref> This can often lead communist-states to persecute Christians as well as other [[theism|theists]].

====Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union====
After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] from the government and [[Russia]]n society, and to make the state [[atheist]]. Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as warehouses. Monasteries were closed and often converted to prison camps, most notably the Solovetz monastery becoming [[Solovki]] camp. Many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-government activities. These victims are now recognized as the "[[New Martyrs]]" by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], the old martyrs being the victims of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] persecutions. Church property, including the icons and other objects of worship (especially those made of precious metals) was confiscated and put to other uses.

While religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Constitution actually guaranteed religious freedom to all Soviet citizens, persecution was still government policy.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church abated during [[World War II]], at which time [[Stalin]]'s government reached a truce with the Church in order to use it as part of its program to inspire Russian [[patriotic]] fervor. Nevertheless, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government sought to put the Church under control by appointing loyal men as priests, allegedly ending up with the entire upper ranks of the Church being officers of the [[KGB]].

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the celebration of [[Christmas]] and the traditional Russian holiday of New Year (Feast of the Circumcision of Christ) was prohibited (later on New Year was reinstated as a secular holiday and is now the most significant family holiday in [[Russia]]). Gatherings and religious processions were initially prohibited and later on strictly limited and regulated. In later years, a more subtle method of disrupting Christian holidays involved broadcasting very popular movies one after the other on the major holidays when believers are expected to participate in religious processions, especially during the [[Easter]] celebration. Apparently, this was intended to keep those whose faith was uncertain or wavering in their homes and glued to their [[Television|TV]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

An intense ideological anti-Christian and anti-religious campaign was carried out throughout the history of the [[Soviet Union]]. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, not to become believers. The role of the Christian religion and the [[Church]] was painted in black colors in school textbooks. For instance, much emphasis was placed on the role of the Church in such historical horror stories as the [[Inquisition]], persecution of [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], [[Giordano Bruno]], and other heretical scientists, and the [[Crusades]]. School students were encouraged to taunt and use [[peer pressure]] against classmates wearing crosses or otherwise professing their faith. In the 1920s there were many "anti-God" publications and social clubs sponsored by the government, most notably the scathingly satirical "[[Godless at the Workbench]]" ("Bezbozhnik u Stanka" in Russian). Later on, these disappeared because a new generation has grown up essentially [[atheist]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

A "scientific" perspective was used to attack religion extensively. The Church was portrayed as obscurantist and opposed to the findings of [[science]]. Much was made of alleged Christian belief in the literal [[Creation (theology)|Creation]] account in the book of [[Genesis]] which the pro-[[Darwinian]] textbooks ridiculed.{{Fact|date=May 2007}} As part of the anti-foreign and anti-capitalist propaganda, an effort was made, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, to imprint in the minds of the people an image of the [[Western Culture|West]] as dominated by the anti-scientific ignorance of the Church, as opposed to the scientifically "progressive" [[atheist]] Soviet state.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In general, Christianity was portrayed as corrupt, hypocritical, a loyal servant of the reactionary [[czar]], obscurantist, "opium for the people" according to [[Karl Marx]], and otherwise evil. This [[Communist]] persecution of the Church proved enormously successful. Within the span of one generation, the traditionally highly devout Russian people became overwhelmingly [[atheist]]. This transformation was, for the most part, complete by the 1950s. As such, it counted as one of the greatest and the most successful persecutions Christianity had ever experienced, on par only with the destruction of Christianity in the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], and [[Asia Minor]] by the [[Islamic]] and [[Turkey|Turkish]] conquests.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

After the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], the government of [[Russia]] openly embraced the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and there was a reputed renaissance in the number of the faithful in [[Russia]]. As of 2004 it is generally noted, however, that whereas a very large percent of Russians today identify themselves as believers and members of the Church (up from a very small group in the Soviet days), still relatively few of them actually attend [[church]] regularly, read the [[Bible]], or otherwise take their [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with the [[Church]] seriously. For many, it seems, [[faith]] has become a matter of personal identification and readiness to [[Baptism|baptize]] their children or have church [[marriage]] and [[burial]] ceremonies, and not much else. This is a clear testimony to the completeness and the long term success of the Communist persecution of the Christianity in [[Russia]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

[[Richard Wurmbrand]], author of ''[[Tortured for Christ]]'' described the systematic persecution of Christians in one East Bloc nation. Many Christian believers in the Soviet Union have told of being imprisoned for no other reason than believing in God. Many have recently been canonized as [[saint]]s following their death at the hands of Soviet authorities; they are collectively referred to in the Orthodox Church as the "new martyrs". (See also [[Enemy of the people]], [[Gulag]], [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]], [[Varlam Shalamov]])

====Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations====
{{see|Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries}}

[[Enver Hoxha]] conducted a campaign to extinguish all forms of religion in [[Albania]] in [[1967]], closing all religious buildings and declaring the state atheist. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that actually outlawed religion. See [[Communist and post-Communist Albania]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

However, persecution of Christians, especially Protestants, [[Pentecostals]] and non-registered minority denominations, has continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, in many countries in [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Central Asia]], notably [[Tajikistan]], [[Uzbekistan]] and [[Human rights in Belarus|Belarus]].

====Persecution of Christians in North Korea====
{{Expand-section|date=August 2007}}
Persecution of Christians is currently the worst in North Korea.<ref>http://sb.od.org/index.php?supp_page=wwl_top_ten&supp_lang=en</ref>

==Nazi-Fascist persecution==
Although far less hostile to Christianity than to Judaism, which the [[Nazism|Nazis]] [[the Holocaust|sought to exterminate]] throughout the [[Third Reich]] and lands that came under Nazi rule, Nazi [[totalitarianism]] demanded that all religious activity conform to the desires of Nazi leadership. Christian churches were obliged to accept the racist doctrines of Nazism. The [[Gestapo]] monitored Christian clergy and congregations for any semblance of dissent with Nazi policies, and many Christian clergy and laymen ended up in concentration camps when they asserted opposition to the teachings and practices of Nazism or if they acted upon pacifist convictions (like many [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and some [[Confessing Church]] members). During the early part of the Nazi rule, the "[[German Christians]]" were an important pseudo-Protestant tool of the regime to bring about the [[Gleichschaltung]] of the churches.

The expansion of [[Nazi Germany]] and the establishment of Nazi rule in occupied countries brought about persecutions ranging from those characteristic in Germany itself to conditions approaching those of the Soviet Union. Catholic priests in Poland that were opposed to the Nazis were taken to the concentration camps; many were murdered in the liquidation of the Polish [[intelligentsia]]. Due to its long historical association with [[Slavic Peoples|Slavic cultures]], Nazi occupation officials used collaborators such as the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Ustashe]] to specifically target [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] Christians in [[Yugoslavia]]. [[Roman Catholics]] were heavily persecuted in Nazi Germany because of their opposing views on [[Nazi eugenics]] and racial hatred.

In Italy the fascist regime of [[Mussolini]] persecuted [[Pentecostals]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and other Protestant groups following the [[Lateran Accords]] with the Roman Catholic church. In 1935, the interior minister [[Guido Buffarini Guidi]] ordered the complete break-up of the Pentecostalist network in Italy.<ref>[www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-7709.2005.00509.x For the Cause of Christ here in Italy]</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Persecution of Christians]]
[[Category:Christianity]]

Christian persecution

2007-08-28T11:13:46Z

Hornet35: /* The Dechristianization program during the French Reign of Terror */

'''Christian persecution''' has occured from the very beginnings of Christianity and continues today. Currently more than 200 million Christians around the globe suffer imprisonment, abuse and sometimes death because of their faith.<ref>http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Christian/Persecution/</ref> In 1998, the publication ''[[The Voice of the Martyrs]]'' named 42 countries where Christians are facing persecution in various forms such as arrest, imprisonment, physical torture and death.<ref>http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1096.htm</ref>

Early [[Christian]] persecution was severe in Ancient [[Roman]]. In Ancient Rome, Christians were most commonly murdered by [[crucifixion]] and being put in arenas with [[lion]]s. The emperor [[Nero]] was one of the most notorious persecutors. Christians continue to be persecuted around the world today in [[communist]] countries like [[China]], and [[Islamic]] countries.

This persecution continued up through the fourth century, when Constantine's [[Edict of Milan]] in 317 A.D. promulgated a doctrine of religious tolerance. In 393 A.D., Christianity became the state religion of Rome, gaining strength after Constantine's conquest of Rome from his fellow ''caesars'' of the time.<ref>"... in 391 AD, Christianity became the official, and only, state religion of the empire." [http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Rome__Le.htm The Legacy of Rome] </ref>

Deep divisions remained within the Empire. Examples include:
# The [[Altar of Victory]] affair.
# The removal of avowed polytheists from office.

Persecution generally ended in the Roman Empire in 317 A.D., with the [[Edict of Milan]].

==Muslim persecution of Christians==
{{Main|Islam and Anti-Christian sentiment}}
===Ottoman Empire===

The new [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. [[Islam]] not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another [[People of the Book]]. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that [[Mehmed II|Mehmet the Conqueror]] did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, [[Gennadius Scholarius]]. The [[Hagia Sophia]] and the [[Parthenon]], which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because [[Islamic law]] makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]], or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made [[ethnarch]], head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.

However, these rights and privileges (see [[Dhimmitude]]), including freedom of worship and religious organization, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. The legal privileges of the patriarch and the Church depended, in fact, on the whim and mercy of the [[Sultan]] and the [[Sublime Porte]], while all Christians were viewed as little more than second-class citizens. Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality were not a myth. That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced this more than anyone else is not in doubt. Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries unknown (see [[Greco-Turkish relations]]).<ref name=AIHG-NYT>[http://www.aihgs.com/New%20York%20Times.htm The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies] ''The New York Times''.</ref> <ref>http://www.helleniccomserve.com/pdf/BlkBkPontusPrinceton.pdf</ref>Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.

The [[Ottoman Empire]] was marked by periods of limited tolerance and periods of often bloody repression of non-Muslims. The [[Janissary]] army corps consisted of young men who were brought to Istanbul as child-slaves (and were often from Christian households) who were converted, trained and later employed by the Sultan (the [[devshirme]] system).

===Turkey===
{{Main|Armenian Genocide|Pontic Greek Genocide|Assyrian Genocide}}
Things worsened after the Empire collapsed at the end of [[World War I]]. Nationalist movements like the [[Young Turks]] began persecuting and murdering [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Assyrians|Assyrian]] and other Christians in what is known as the [[Armenian Genocide|Armenian]], the [[Pontic Greek Genocide|Pontic Greek]] and the [[Assyrian Genocide]]s. This mass murder of Christians is fairly unknown today outside Greece and Armenia, despite taking place not very long ago (1915-1922). It is estimated that 1,500,000 Armenians, 750,000 [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] and another 350,000 [[Pontic Greeks]] were murdered and most had to abandon regions inhabited by them for thousands of years.

Since the establishment of the secular nationalist [[Republic of Turkey]], the number of Orthodox in the [[Anatolia]]n peninsula has sharply declined amidst complaints of Turkish governmental repression.{{Facts|date=June 2007}} These complaints include various perceived campaigns by the Turkish government against various Eastern and Oriental Orthodox groups such as the [[Istanbul Pogrom]] in 1955 and the closure of the [[Halki seminary]] in 1971 (along with private universities).

The [[Istanbul pogrom]] was a state-sponsored and state-orchestrated [[pogrom]] that compelled Greek Christians to leave [[Constantinople]] ([[Turkish language|Turkish]] Istanbul), the first Christian city in violation to the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (see [[Istanbul Pogrom]]). The issue of Christian genocides by the Turks may become a problem, since Turkey wishes to join the [[European Union]].<ref>http://euobserver.com/9/22331/?rk=1 "MEPs back Armenia genocide clause in Turkey report" by Lucia Kubosova, published by ''EU Observer'' on [[5 September]] [[2006]]</ref> The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] is still in a difficult position. Turkey requires by law that the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] must be an [[Greeks|ethnic Greek]], holding Turkish citizenship by birth, although most of the [[Greeks in Turkey|Greek minority]] has been expelled. The state's expropriation of church property and the closing of the Orthodox [[Halki seminary|Theological School of Halki]] are also difficulties faced by the Church of Constantinople. Despite appeals from the [[United States]], the [[European Union]] and various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the School remains closed since [[1971]]. Persecution of Christians is continuing in modern Turkey. On [[February 5]], [[2006]], the Catholic priest
[[Andrea Santoro]] was murdered in [[Trabzon]] by a student influenced by the massive anti-Christian propaganda in the Turkish popular press<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,437512,00.html|publisher=Der Spiegel Online|title=Goldenes Kreuz unter der Bluse|date=September 17, 2006}}</ref>, following the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]]. On [[April 18]], [[2007]], 3 Christians were [[Malatya bible publishing firm murders|brutally murdered]] in [[Malatya]] <ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,478074,00.html Der Spiegel, Three Killed at Bible Publishing Firm]</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour/news/story/2007/04/070419_turkey_slayings.shtml BBC, Christians Killed in Turkey]</ref>, the hometown of [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], the assassin who shot and wounded [[Pope John Paul II]] on [[May 13]], [[1981]].

===Persecution of Christians in Iraq===
The [[United Nations High Commission for Refugees]] reports that Christians comprise 44% of [[Refugees of Iraq|Iraqi refugees]], although only 4% of the overall population is [[Christian]].<ref>[http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7410 Terror campaign targets Chaldean church in Iraq]</ref> Northern Iraq remained predominantly Christian until the destructions of [[Tamerlane]] at the end of the [[14th century]]. The [[Church of the East]] has its origin in what is now South East [[Turkey]]. By the end of the [[13th century]] there were twelve [[Nestorian]] dioceses in a strip from [[Peking]] to [[Samarkand]]. When the a 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Tamerlane (Timul Lenk) conquered [[Persia]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Syria]], the civilian population was decimated. Timur Lenk had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in [[Tikrit]], and 90,000 more in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/somasushma/Timur4.html The annihilation of Iraq]{{Verify credibility|date=August 2007}}</ref><ref>http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/etnisk_b.exe?Assyrian</ref>

Ethnic [[Assyrians]] (most of whom are adherents of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]) account for most of Iraq's sizable Christian population, along with [[Armenians]].

Iraq's Christian community numbered 1.4 million in [[1980]] at the start of [[Iran-Iraq War]]. They were tolerated under the [[secular]] regime of [[Saddam Hussein]], who even made one of them, [[Tariq Aziz]], his deputy. But as the war has radicalised Islamic sensibilities, Christians have seen their total numbers slump to about 500,000 today, of whom 250,000 live in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1961207,00.html 'We're staying and we will resist']</ref> An exodus to the neighbouring countries of [[Syria]], [[Jordan]] and [[Turkey]] has left behind closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small minority without a militia of their own, Iraqi Christians have been persecuted by both [[Shi’a]] and [[Sunni]] Muslim militias, and also by criminal gangs.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1606015,00.html Iraq's Christians Flock to Lebanon]</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270377,00.html Christians Fleeing Violence in Iraq]</ref>

As of [[November 4]], [[2006]], the [[UNHCR]] estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.<ref> [http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/03/un_nearly_100000_flee_iraq_monthly/ U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly]. Alexander G. Higgins, ''[[Boston Globe]],'' [[November 3]], [[2006]]</ref> A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from [[Iraq]] have been granted [[refugee]] status in the [[United States]].<ref>Ann McFeatters: [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317322_mcfeatters27.html Iraq refugees find no refuge in America]. ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' May 25, 2007</ref>

One of the most recent tragic events of the present Iraqi situation for the Christian community is the assassination by [[Islam|Islamic]] [[terrorism|terrorists]] of Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. [[Ragheed Aziz Ganni]] and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in the ancient city of [[Mosul]].<ref name="frragheed">[http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2655894.ece Fr Ragheed Ganni -- The Independant (14 June 2007)]</ref> Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped by Muslim terrorists who demanded their conversion to Islam, when they refused the terrorists shot them.<ref name="frragheed" />

===Persecution of Christians in Kosovo===
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed overwhelmingly of Serbs (see [[Demographic history of Kosovo]]). Initially, former Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in [[1389]]. Christians within the Ottoman Empire were not violently persecuted but gradually Islamized through incentives such as property, reduced taxes and the right to bear arms. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople[http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture3.html]. The living conditions of the average serf in Kosovo improved druing the Ottoman occupation due to the rationalization of the Ottoman Timar system which was less demanding then previous feudal relations. Persecution of Christians has been limited to the Serbian Orthodox tardition and is ethnic not religious. Catholic's, most of whom were Albanian, were unmolested in Kosovo. The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in the destruction of 56 Serb Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, graveyards and other religious monuments, some of them being of great historical and architectural importance. The latest wave of anti-Serb violence was in March 2004 (see [[Unrest in Kosovo]]).{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

===Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon===
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims. Among the earliest was the [[Damour massacre|Damour Massacre]] in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological, and retaliation reasons. The [[Syria|Syrian regime]] was also involved in persecuting Christians as well as Muslims in Lebanon.<ref>http://phoenicia.org/christiansmea.html</ref><ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newssummpopup.php?newscode=4612&PHPSESSID=c7d2e762a581bd8981cacf23abafd68c</ref>

===Persecution of Christians in Sudan===
There is an abundance of evidence since the early 1990s of oppression and persecution of Christians, including by Sudan's own ''Sudan Human Rights Organization'', which in mid-1992 reported on forcible closure of churches, expulsion of priests, forced displacement of populations, forced [[Islamisation]] and [[Arabisation]], and other repressive measures of the Government. In 1994 it also reported on widespread torture, ethnic cleansing and crucifixion of pastors. [[Pax Christi]] has also reported on detailed cases in 1994, as has Africa Watch. Roman Catholic bishop Macram Max Gassis, Bishop of [[El Obeid]], also reported to the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, in February 1994 on accounts of widespread destruction of hundreds of churches, forced conversions of Christians to Islam, [[concentration camps]], genocide of the [[Nuba]] people, systematic rape of women, enslavement of children, torture of priests and clerics, burning alive of pastors and catechists, [[crucifixion]] and [[mutilation]] of priests. The foregoing therefore serve to indict the Sudanese Government itself for flagrant violations of human rights and religious freedom.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In addition, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the [[Janjaweed]], the Arab Muslim militia, and even suspected [[Islamists]] in northern Sudan since 1984.[http://www.religioustolerance.org/geno_su.htm]

It should also be noted that Sudan's several civil wars (which often take the form of genocidal campaigns) are often not only or purely religious in nature, but also ethnic, as many black Muslims, as well as Muslim Arab tribesmen, have also been killed in the conflicts.

===Persecution of Christians in Pakistan===
====Blasphemy laws====
In Pakistan 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. On [[July 28]], [[1994]] [[Amnesty International]] urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, [[Benazir Bhutto]], to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the [[Nawaz Sharif]] administration which was backed by [[Muslim fundamentalists]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, [[Salman Rushdie]], author of ''[[The Satanic Verses]]''. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.<ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm</ref>

On September 22, 2006 a Pakistani Christian named Shahid Masih was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating Islamic "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan. He is presently held in confinement and has expressed fear of reprisals by [[Islamic Fundamentalists]].<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7248</ref>

====Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists====
The Christian community in Pakistan is frequently the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/south_asia/2183204.stm Pakistan's Christians under siege -- BBC]</ref>

On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church.

On September 25, 2002 two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", [[Karachi]], where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then executed eight Christians by shooting them in the head [http://www.domini.org/openbook/pak20020925.htm]. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.

In November [[2005]] 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed [[Roman Catholic]], [[Salvation Army]] and United [[Presbyterian]] churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.<ref>http://www.missio-aachen.de/menschen-kulturen/nachrichten/Sangla_Hill_attack_continues_to_draw_condemnation.asp</ref> However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4928</ref>

In February 2006 churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|Jyllands-Posten]] cartoons in [[Denmark]], leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.<ref>http://www.christianresponse.org/articles/291/cartoon-protestors-in-pakistan-target-christians</ref>

On June 5, 2006 a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near [[Lahore]] when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog". Bystanders encouraged the beating and joined in. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized.<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51859 Christian beaten for drinking water], Worldnet Daily</ref><ref>[http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsviewsdetails.php?newsid=578 Christian attacked for polluting],''Pakistan Christian Post''</ref>

In August of 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of [[Lahore]], Pakistan in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.<ref name="cp23922">http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060822/23922.htm</ref>

Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.<ref name="cp23922" />

===Attacks on Christians by Islamists in Indonesia===
Religious conflicts have typically occurred in [[western New Guinea]], [[Maluku]] (particularly [[Ambon Island|Ambon]]), and [[Sulawesi]]. The presence of Muslims in these regions is largely due to [[Suharto]]'s ''[[transmigrasi]]'' plan of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical [[Islamist]] organizations such as [[Jemaah Islamiah]] or [[Laskar Jihad]] to impose [[Sharia]]. The following list is far from comprehensive:
*[[1998]] - 500 Christian churches burned down in [[Java (island)|Java]].
*November, [[1998]] - 22 churches in [[Jakarta]] are burned down. 13 Christians killed.
*[[Christmas]] Day [[1998]] - 180 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in [[Poso]], [[Central Sulawesi]].
*[[Easter]] [[2000]] - 800 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
*[[May 23]], [[2000]] - Christians fight back against a Muslim [[Crowd|mob]]. 700 people die.
*June, [[2001]] - the [[Laskar Jihad]] declares [[Jihad]] against Christians. Muslim [[citizen]]s are recruited by the thousands to exterminate Christians.
*[[May 28]], [[2005]] - A bomb is exploded in a crowded market in [[Tentena]], killing 28. This marks the highest death toll due to bombing after the devastating attacks in [[Bali]].<ref>http://www.persecution.org/news/press2001-03-09.html</ref>
*[[October 29]], [[2005]] three school girls were found [[beheaded]] near Poso. The girls, students at [[Central Sulawesi Christian Church]], were killed by six unidentified assailants while on their way to class.

===Discrimination and persecution in other Muslim nations===
In [[Saudi Arabia]] Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=23</ref> Bibles and other non-Muslim religious books are captured, piled up and burned by the religious police of Saudi. No non-Muslims are allowed to become Saudi citizens. Prayer services by Christians are frequently broken up by the police and the Christians are arrested and tortured without even allowing them to be released on bail.

In [[Egypt]] the government does not officially recognise conversions from Islam to Christianity; because certain interfaith marriages are not allowed either, this prevents marriages between converts to Christianity and those born in Christian communities, and also results in the children of Christian converts being classified as Muslims and given a Muslim education. The government also requires permits for repairing churches or building new ones, which are often withheld. Foreign missionaries are allowed in the country only if they restrict their activities to social improvements and refrain from proselytizing. The [[Coptic Christianity|Coptic]] [[Pope Shenouda III]] was internally exiled in [[1981]] by President [[Anwar Sadat]], who then chose five Coptic bishops and asked them to choose a new pope. They refused, and in [[1985]] President [[Hosni Mubarak]] restored Pope Shenouda III, who had been accused of fomenting interconfessional strife. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist [[Islamist]] groups such as the [[Gama'at Islamiya]] during the 1980s was accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches; these have since declined with the decline of those organizations, but still continue. The police have been accused of siding with the attackers in some of these cases.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/589977.stm</ref> Nevertheless, high-ranking government officials in Egypt have included Copts like [[Boutros Ghali]] and his grandson, [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]].

There have been anti-Christian incidents carried out in areas governed by the [[Palestinian Authority]]. Some claim that this represents a pattern of deliberate mistreatment by the PA;<ref>http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july02/arafatland.html</ref> others hold that these are isolated incidents that reflect the beliefs of the individuals involved, but not the society in general.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=36</ref><ref>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/764947.html</ref> Two American courts, one in Illinois and the other in North Carolina, accepted the threat of "religious persecution" as grounds for granting asylum to Evangelical converts fleeing PA territory.
There is an ongoing trend for emigration among [[Palestinian Christian]]s doubling that of Muslims.
The ratio of Christians among Palestinians went from 18%-20% in 1947 to 13% in 1966 to 2.1% in 1993.<ref name="DonWagner">''[http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/pubs/20020312ib.html Palestinian Christians: An Historic Community at Risk?]'', by Don Wagner (Palestine Center - Information Brief No. 89, 12 March 2002) quoting [[Bethlehem University]] sociologist [[Bernard Sabella]] (see [http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm Palestinian Christians: Challenges and Hopes]).</ref> Among the causes there are the insecurity of living under Israeli rule after the 1967 [[Six Day War]], the comparatively warmer welcome that Christians have in the Americas and the rise of Islamism in Palestine politics

Though [[Iran]] recognizes [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] and [[Armenian people|Armenian]] Christians as a religious minority (along with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in the [[Majlis of Iran|Parliament]], after the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 Revolution]], Muslim converts to Christianity (typically to Protestant Christianity) have been arrested and sometimes executed. <ref>{{cite web|title=Iran Religious and Ethnic Minorities: Discrimination in Law And Practice|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=1997|url=http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-05.htm|accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref> ''See also: [[Christianity in Iran]]''.

In the Philippines, the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] and [[Abu Sayyaf]] has attacked and killed Christians.<ref>http://persecution.org/Countries/philippines.html</ref>

[[Abdul Rahman (convert)|Abdul Rahman]], a 41-year-old Afghan citizen, was charged in Afghanistan with rejecting Islam ([[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]]), a crime punishable by death under [[Sharia]] law. He has since been released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4823874.stm</ref><ref>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7BB654F1-7D5C-4E7D-B251-28A6E20A461D.htm</ref>

==Atheist persecution of Christians==
===The Dechristianization program during the French Reign of Terror===
The [[Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution]] is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the [[French Revolution]] in [[1789]] and the [[Concordat of 1801]].

The program of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included:

*the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
*the closing of churches,
*the institution of atheistic and deist cults, including the [[Cult of Reason]] and subsequently the [[Cult of the Supreme Being]],
*the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
*the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
*forced marriages of the clergy,
*forced abjurement of priesthood, and
*the enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
<ref>Latreille, A. FRENCH REVOLUTION, New Catholic Encyclopedia v. 5, pp. 972-973 (Second Ed. 2002 Thompson/Gale) ISBN 0-7876-4004-2</ref>

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] Cathedral on 10 November.

The dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. By early [[1795]] a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on [[February 21]], 1795 legalized public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the [[Christian cross]] were still forbidden. As late as [[1799]], priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and persecution only worsened after the French army led by General [[Louis Alexandre Berthier]] captured [[Rome]] and imprisoned [[Pope Pius VI]], who would die in captivity in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] now in ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope, [[Pope Pius VII|Pius VII]], led to the [[Concordat of 1801]], formally ending the dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the church and the French State.

Victims of the [[Reign of Terror]] totaled approximately 40,000. Among those people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 6 percent clergy <ref>[http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=209830 Harvey, Donald Joseph FRENCH REVOLUTION, History.com 2006 (Accessed April 27,2007)]</ref> and countless others were killed or persecuted because of their faith. Of the various social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.

===Communist persecution of Christians===
[[Marxism|Marxist]] ideology promotes atheism.<ref>Symbols, Conflict, and Identity: Essays in Political Anthropology by Zdzisław Mach, page 152</ref> This can often lead communist-states to persecute Christians as well as other [[theism|theists]].

====Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union====
{{see|Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union}}

After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] from the government and [[Russia]]n society, and to make the state [[atheist]]. Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as warehouses. Monasteries were closed and often converted to prison camps, most notably the Solovetz monastery becoming [[Solovki]] camp. Many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-government activities. These victims are now recognized as the "[[New Martyrs]]" by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], the old martyrs being the victims of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] persecutions. Church property, including the icons and other objects of worship (especially those made of precious metals) was confiscated and put to other uses.

While religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Constitution actually guaranteed religious freedom to all Soviet citizens, persecution was still government policy.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church abated during [[World War II]], at which time [[Stalin]]'s government reached a truce with the Church in order to use it as part of its program to inspire Russian [[patriotic]] fervor. Nevertheless, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government sought to put the Church under control by appointing loyal men as priests, allegedly ending up with the entire upper ranks of the Church being officers of the [[KGB]].

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the celebration of [[Christmas]] and the traditional Russian holiday of New Year (Feast of the Circumcision of Christ) was prohibited (later on New Year was reinstated as a secular holiday and is now the most significant family holiday in [[Russia]]). Gatherings and religious processions were initially prohibited and later on strictly limited and regulated. In later years, a more subtle method of disrupting Christian holidays involved broadcasting very popular movies one after the other on the major holidays when believers are expected to participate in religious processions, especially during the [[Easter]] celebration. Apparently, this was intended to keep those whose faith was uncertain or wavering in their homes and glued to their [[Television|TV]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

An intense ideological anti-Christian and anti-religious campaign was carried out throughout the history of the [[Soviet Union]]. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, not to become believers. The role of the Christian religion and the [[Church]] was painted in black colors in school textbooks. For instance, much emphasis was placed on the role of the Church in such historical horror stories as the [[Inquisition]], persecution of [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], [[Giordano Bruno]], and other heretical scientists, and the [[Crusades]]. School students were encouraged to taunt and use [[peer pressure]] against classmates wearing crosses or otherwise professing their faith. In the 1920s there were many "anti-God" publications and social clubs sponsored by the government, most notably the scathingly satirical "[[Godless at the Workbench]]" ("Bezbozhnik u Stanka" in Russian). Later on, these disappeared because a new generation has grown up essentially [[atheist]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

A "scientific" perspective was used to attack religion extensively. The Church was portrayed as obscurantist and opposed to the findings of [[science]]. Much was made of alleged Christian belief in the literal [[Creation (theology)|Creation]] account in the book of [[Genesis]] which the pro-[[Darwinian]] textbooks ridiculed.{{Fact|date=May 2007}} As part of the anti-foreign and anti-capitalist propaganda, an effort was made, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, to imprint in the minds of the people an image of the [[Western Culture|West]] as dominated by the anti-scientific ignorance of the Church, as opposed to the scientifically "progressive" [[atheist]] Soviet state.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In general, Christianity was portrayed as corrupt, hypocritical, a loyal servant of the reactionary [[czar]], obscurantist, "opium for the people" according to [[Karl Marx]], and otherwise evil. This [[Communist]] persecution of the Church proved enormously successful. Within the span of one generation, the traditionally highly devout Russian people became overwhelmingly [[atheist]]. This transformation was, for the most part, complete by the 1950s. As such, it counted as one of the greatest and the most successful persecutions Christianity had ever experienced, on par only with the destruction of Christianity in the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], and [[Asia Minor]] by the [[Islamic]] and [[Turkey|Turkish]] conquests.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

After the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], the government of [[Russia]] openly embraced the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and there was a reputed renaissance in the number of the faithful in [[Russia]]. As of 2004 it is generally noted, however, that whereas a very large percent of Russians today identify themselves as believers and members of the Church (up from a very small group in the Soviet days), still relatively few of them actually attend [[church]] regularly, read the [[Bible]], or otherwise take their [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with the [[Church]] seriously. For many, it seems, [[faith]] has become a matter of personal identification and readiness to [[Baptism|baptize]] their children or have church [[marriage]] and [[burial]] ceremonies, and not much else. This is a clear testimony to the completeness and the long term success of the Communist persecution of the Christianity in [[Russia]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

[[Richard Wurmbrand]], author of ''[[Tortured for Christ]]'' described the systematic persecution of Christians in one East Bloc nation. Many Christian believers in the Soviet Union have told of being imprisoned for no other reason than believing in God. Many have recently been canonized as [[saint]]s following their death at the hands of Soviet authorities; they are collectively referred to in the Orthodox Church as the "new martyrs". (See also [[Enemy of the people]], [[Gulag]], [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]], [[Varlam Shalamov]])

====Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations====
{{see|Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries}}

[[Enver Hoxha]] conducted a campaign to extinguish all forms of religion in [[Albania]] in [[1967]], closing all religious buildings and declaring the state atheist. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that actually outlawed religion. See [[Communist and post-Communist Albania]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

However, persecution of Christians, especially Protestants, [[Pentecostals]] and non-registered minority denominations, has continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, in many countries in [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Central Asia]], notably [[Tajikistan]], [[Uzbekistan]] and [[Human rights in Belarus|Belarus]].

====Persecution of Christians in North Korea====
{{Expand-section|date=August 2007}}
Persecution of Christians is currently the worst in North Korea.<ref>http://sb.od.org/index.php?supp_page=wwl_top_ten&supp_lang=en</ref>

==Nazi-Fascist persecution==
Although far less hostile to Christianity than to Judaism, which the [[Nazism|Nazis]] [[the Holocaust|sought to exterminate]] throughout the [[Third Reich]] and lands that came under Nazi rule, Nazi [[totalitarianism]] demanded that all religious activity conform to the desires of Nazi leadership. Christian churches were obliged to accept the racist doctrines of Nazism. The [[Gestapo]] monitored Christian clergy and congregations for any semblance of dissent with Nazi policies, and many Christian clergy and laymen ended up in concentration camps when they asserted opposition to the teachings and practices of Nazism or if they acted upon pacifist convictions (like many [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and some [[Confessing Church]] members). During the early part of the Nazi rule, the "[[German Christians]]" were an important pseudo-Protestant tool of the regime to bring about the [[Gleichschaltung]] of the churches.

The expansion of [[Nazi Germany]] and the establishment of Nazi rule in occupied countries brought about persecutions ranging from those characteristic in Germany itself to conditions approaching those of the Soviet Union. Catholic priests in Poland that were opposed to the Nazis were taken to the concentration camps; many were murdered in the liquidation of the Polish [[intelligentsia]]. Due to its long historical association with [[Slavic Peoples|Slavic cultures]], Nazi occupation officials used collaborators such as the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Ustashe]] to specifically target [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] Christians in [[Yugoslavia]]. [[Roman Catholics]] were heavily persecuted in Nazi Germany because of their opposing views on [[Nazi eugenics]] and racial hatred.

In Italy the fascist regime of [[Mussolini]] persecuted [[Pentecostals]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and other Protestant groups following the [[Lateran Accords]] with the Roman Catholic church. In 1935, the interior minister [[Guido Buffarini Guidi]] ordered the complete break-up of the Pentecostalist network in Italy.<ref>[www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-7709.2005.00509.x For the Cause of Christ here in Italy]</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Persecution of Christians]]
[[Category:Christianity]]

Christian persecution

2007-08-28T11:12:01Z

Hornet35:

'''Christian persecution''' has occured from the very beginnings of Christianity and continues today. Currently more than 200 million Christians around the globe suffer imprisonment, abuse and sometimes death because of their faith.<ref>http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Christian/Persecution/</ref> In 1998, the publication ''[[The Voice of the Martyrs]]'' named 42 countries where Christians are facing persecution in various forms such as arrest, imprisonment, physical torture and death.<ref>http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1096.htm</ref>

Early [[Christian]] persecution was severe in Ancient [[Roman]]. In Ancient Rome, Christians were most commonly murdered by [[crucifixion]] and being put in arenas with [[lion]]s. The emperor [[Nero]] was one of the most notorious persecutors. Christians continue to be persecuted around the world today in [[communist]] countries like [[China]], and [[Islamic]] countries.

This persecution continued up through the fourth century, when Constantine's [[Edict of Milan]] in 317 A.D. promulgated a doctrine of religious tolerance. In 393 A.D., Christianity became the state religion of Rome, gaining strength after Constantine's conquest of Rome from his fellow ''caesars'' of the time.<ref>"... in 391 AD, Christianity became the official, and only, state religion of the empire." [http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Rome__Le.htm The Legacy of Rome] </ref>

Deep divisions remained within the Empire. Examples include:
# The [[Altar of Victory]] affair.
# The removal of avowed polytheists from office.

Persecution generally ended in the Roman Empire in 317 A.D., with the [[Edict of Milan]].

==Muslim persecution of Christians==
{{Main|Islam and Anti-Christian sentiment}}
===Ottoman Empire===

The new [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilization was neither primitive nor barbaric. [[Islam]] not only recognized Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another [[People of the Book]]. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organization significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that [[Mehmed II|Mehmet the Conqueror]] did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, [[Gennadius Scholarius]]. The [[Hagia Sophia]] and the [[Parthenon]], which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because [[Islamic law]] makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]], or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made [[ethnarch]], head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.

However, these rights and privileges (see [[Dhimmitude]]), including freedom of worship and religious organization, were often established in principle but seldom corresponded to reality. The legal privileges of the patriarch and the Church depended, in fact, on the whim and mercy of the [[Sultan]] and the [[Sublime Porte]], while all Christians were viewed as little more than second-class citizens. Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality were not a myth. That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced this more than anyone else is not in doubt. Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries unknown (see [[Greco-Turkish relations]]).<ref name=AIHG-NYT>[http://www.aihgs.com/New%20York%20Times.htm The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies] ''The New York Times''.</ref> <ref>http://www.helleniccomserve.com/pdf/BlkBkPontusPrinceton.pdf</ref>Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.

The [[Ottoman Empire]] was marked by periods of limited tolerance and periods of often bloody repression of non-Muslims. The [[Janissary]] army corps consisted of young men who were brought to Istanbul as child-slaves (and were often from Christian households) who were converted, trained and later employed by the Sultan (the [[devshirme]] system).

===Turkey===
{{Main|Armenian Genocide|Pontic Greek Genocide|Assyrian Genocide}}
Things worsened after the Empire collapsed at the end of [[World War I]]. Nationalist movements like the [[Young Turks]] began persecuting and murdering [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Assyrians|Assyrian]] and other Christians in what is known as the [[Armenian Genocide|Armenian]], the [[Pontic Greek Genocide|Pontic Greek]] and the [[Assyrian Genocide]]s. This mass murder of Christians is fairly unknown today outside Greece and Armenia, despite taking place not very long ago (1915-1922). It is estimated that 1,500,000 Armenians, 750,000 [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] and another 350,000 [[Pontic Greeks]] were murdered and most had to abandon regions inhabited by them for thousands of years.

Since the establishment of the secular nationalist [[Republic of Turkey]], the number of Orthodox in the [[Anatolia]]n peninsula has sharply declined amidst complaints of Turkish governmental repression.{{Facts|date=June 2007}} These complaints include various perceived campaigns by the Turkish government against various Eastern and Oriental Orthodox groups such as the [[Istanbul Pogrom]] in 1955 and the closure of the [[Halki seminary]] in 1971 (along with private universities).

The [[Istanbul pogrom]] was a state-sponsored and state-orchestrated [[pogrom]] that compelled Greek Christians to leave [[Constantinople]] ([[Turkish language|Turkish]] Istanbul), the first Christian city in violation to the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (see [[Istanbul Pogrom]]). The issue of Christian genocides by the Turks may become a problem, since Turkey wishes to join the [[European Union]].<ref>http://euobserver.com/9/22331/?rk=1 "MEPs back Armenia genocide clause in Turkey report" by Lucia Kubosova, published by ''EU Observer'' on [[5 September]] [[2006]]</ref> The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] is still in a difficult position. Turkey requires by law that the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] must be an [[Greeks|ethnic Greek]], holding Turkish citizenship by birth, although most of the [[Greeks in Turkey|Greek minority]] has been expelled. The state's expropriation of church property and the closing of the Orthodox [[Halki seminary|Theological School of Halki]] are also difficulties faced by the Church of Constantinople. Despite appeals from the [[United States]], the [[European Union]] and various governmental and non-governmental organizations, the School remains closed since [[1971]]. Persecution of Christians is continuing in modern Turkey. On [[February 5]], [[2006]], the Catholic priest
[[Andrea Santoro]] was murdered in [[Trabzon]] by a student influenced by the massive anti-Christian propaganda in the Turkish popular press<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,437512,00.html|publisher=Der Spiegel Online|title=Goldenes Kreuz unter der Bluse|date=September 17, 2006}}</ref>, following the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]]. On [[April 18]], [[2007]], 3 Christians were [[Malatya bible publishing firm murders|brutally murdered]] in [[Malatya]] <ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,478074,00.html Der Spiegel, Three Killed at Bible Publishing Firm]</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour/news/story/2007/04/070419_turkey_slayings.shtml BBC, Christians Killed in Turkey]</ref>, the hometown of [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], the assassin who shot and wounded [[Pope John Paul II]] on [[May 13]], [[1981]].

===Persecution of Christians in Iraq===
The [[United Nations High Commission for Refugees]] reports that Christians comprise 44% of [[Refugees of Iraq|Iraqi refugees]], although only 4% of the overall population is [[Christian]].<ref>[http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7410 Terror campaign targets Chaldean church in Iraq]</ref> Northern Iraq remained predominantly Christian until the destructions of [[Tamerlane]] at the end of the [[14th century]]. The [[Church of the East]] has its origin in what is now South East [[Turkey]]. By the end of the [[13th century]] there were twelve [[Nestorian]] dioceses in a strip from [[Peking]] to [[Samarkand]]. When the a 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Tamerlane (Timul Lenk) conquered [[Persia]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Syria]], the civilian population was decimated. Timur Lenk had 70,000 Assyrian Christians beheaded in [[Tikrit]], and 90,000 more in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/somasushma/Timur4.html The annihilation of Iraq]{{Verify credibility|date=August 2007}}</ref><ref>http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/etnisk_b.exe?Assyrian</ref>

Ethnic [[Assyrians]] (most of whom are adherents of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]) account for most of Iraq's sizable Christian population, along with [[Armenians]].

Iraq's Christian community numbered 1.4 million in [[1980]] at the start of [[Iran-Iraq War]]. They were tolerated under the [[secular]] regime of [[Saddam Hussein]], who even made one of them, [[Tariq Aziz]], his deputy. But as the war has radicalised Islamic sensibilities, Christians have seen their total numbers slump to about 500,000 today, of whom 250,000 live in [[Baghdad]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1961207,00.html 'We're staying and we will resist']</ref> An exodus to the neighbouring countries of [[Syria]], [[Jordan]] and [[Turkey]] has left behind closed parishes, seminaries and convents. As a small minority without a militia of their own, Iraqi Christians have been persecuted by both [[Shi’a]] and [[Sunni]] Muslim militias, and also by criminal gangs.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1606015,00.html Iraq's Christians Flock to Lebanon]</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270377,00.html Christians Fleeing Violence in Iraq]</ref>

As of [[November 4]], [[2006]], the [[UNHCR]] estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.<ref> [http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/03/un_nearly_100000_flee_iraq_monthly/ U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly]. Alexander G. Higgins, ''[[Boston Globe]],'' [[November 3]], [[2006]]</ref> A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from [[Iraq]] have been granted [[refugee]] status in the [[United States]].<ref>Ann McFeatters: [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317322_mcfeatters27.html Iraq refugees find no refuge in America]. ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' May 25, 2007</ref>

One of the most recent tragic events of the present Iraqi situation for the Christian community is the assassination by [[Islam|Islamic]] [[terrorism|terrorists]] of Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. [[Ragheed Aziz Ganni]] and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in the ancient city of [[Mosul]].<ref name="frragheed">[http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2655894.ece Fr Ragheed Ganni -- The Independant (14 June 2007)]</ref> Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped by Muslim terrorists who demanded their conversion to Islam, when they refused the terrorists shot them.<ref name="frragheed" />

===Persecution of Christians in Kosovo===
After the defeat of a Christian Balkan coalition lead by a prince of Serbia, Lazar, the Ottomans occupied Kosovo. The Christian population of Kosovo was composed overwhelmingly of Serbs (see [[Demographic history of Kosovo]]). Initially, former Christian nobles were allowed to maintain their properties and privileges, especially the local nobles that fought on the side of the Ottomans during the Battle of Kosovo in [[1389]]. Christians within the Ottoman Empire were not violently persecuted but gradually Islamized through incentives such as property, reduced taxes and the right to bear arms. The Orthodox and Catholic churches of Kosovo during the Ottoman period were awarded special protections and rights including placing Christians under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople[http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture3.html]. The living conditions of the average serf in Kosovo improved druing the Ottoman occupation due to the rationalization of the Ottoman Timar system which was less demanding then previous feudal relations. Persecution of Christians has been limited to the Serbian Orthodox tardition and is ethnic not religious. Catholic's, most of whom were Albanian, were unmolested in Kosovo. The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in the destruction of 56 Serb Orthodox Christian churches, monasteries, graveyards and other religious monuments, some of them being of great historical and architectural importance. The latest wave of anti-Serb violence was in March 2004 (see [[Unrest in Kosovo]]).{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

===Christian casualties of the War in Lebanon===
The war in Lebanon saw a number of massacres of both Christians and Muslims. Among the earliest was the [[Damour massacre|Damour Massacre]] in 1975 when Palestinian militias attacked Christian civilians. The persecution in Lebanon combined sectarian, political, ideological, and retaliation reasons. The [[Syria|Syrian regime]] was also involved in persecuting Christians as well as Muslims in Lebanon.<ref>http://phoenicia.org/christiansmea.html</ref><ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newssummpopup.php?newscode=4612&PHPSESSID=c7d2e762a581bd8981cacf23abafd68c</ref>

===Persecution of Christians in Sudan===
There is an abundance of evidence since the early 1990s of oppression and persecution of Christians, including by Sudan's own ''Sudan Human Rights Organization'', which in mid-1992 reported on forcible closure of churches, expulsion of priests, forced displacement of populations, forced [[Islamisation]] and [[Arabisation]], and other repressive measures of the Government. In 1994 it also reported on widespread torture, ethnic cleansing and crucifixion of pastors. [[Pax Christi]] has also reported on detailed cases in 1994, as has Africa Watch. Roman Catholic bishop Macram Max Gassis, Bishop of [[El Obeid]], also reported to the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva, in February 1994 on accounts of widespread destruction of hundreds of churches, forced conversions of Christians to Islam, [[concentration camps]], genocide of the [[Nuba]] people, systematic rape of women, enslavement of children, torture of priests and clerics, burning alive of pastors and catechists, [[crucifixion]] and [[mutilation]] of priests. The foregoing therefore serve to indict the Sudanese Government itself for flagrant violations of human rights and religious freedom.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In addition, it is estimated that over 1.5 million Christians have been killed by the [[Janjaweed]], the Arab Muslim militia, and even suspected [[Islamists]] in northern Sudan since 1984.[http://www.religioustolerance.org/geno_su.htm]

It should also be noted that Sudan's several civil wars (which often take the form of genocidal campaigns) are often not only or purely religious in nature, but also ethnic, as many black Muslims, as well as Muslim Arab tribesmen, have also been killed in the conflicts.

===Persecution of Christians in Pakistan===
====Blasphemy laws====
In Pakistan 1.5% of the population are Christian. Pakistani law mandates that "blasphemies" of the Qur'an are to be met with punishment. On [[July 28]], [[1994]] [[Amnesty International]] urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, [[Benazir Bhutto]], to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the [[Nawaz Sharif]] administration which was backed by [[Muslim fundamentalists]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, [[Salman Rushdie]], author of ''[[The Satanic Verses]]''. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.<ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm</ref>

On September 22, 2006 a Pakistani Christian named Shahid Masih was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating Islamic "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan. He is presently held in confinement and has expressed fear of reprisals by [[Islamic Fundamentalists]].<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7248</ref>

====Attacks on Pakistani Christians by Islamists====
The Christian community in Pakistan is frequently the target of attacks by Islamic extremists.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/south_asia/2183204.stm Pakistan's Christians under siege -- BBC]</ref>

On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church.

On September 25, 2002 two terrorists entered the "Peace and Justice Institute", [[Karachi]], where they separated Muslims from the Christians, and then executed eight Christians by shooting them in the head [http://www.domini.org/openbook/pak20020925.htm]. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.

In November [[2005]] 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed [[Roman Catholic]], [[Salvation Army]] and United [[Presbyterian]] churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.<ref>http://www.missio-aachen.de/menschen-kulturen/nachrichten/Sangla_Hill_attack_continues_to_draw_condemnation.asp</ref> However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".<ref>http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4928</ref>

In February 2006 churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|Jyllands-Posten]] cartoons in [[Denmark]], leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.<ref>http://www.christianresponse.org/articles/291/cartoon-protestors-in-pakistan-target-christians</ref>

On June 5, 2006 a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near [[Lahore]] when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog". Bystanders encouraged the beating and joined in. Ashraf was eventually hospitalized.<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51859 Christian beaten for drinking water], Worldnet Daily</ref><ref>[http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsviewsdetails.php?newsid=578 Christian attacked for polluting],''Pakistan Christian Post''</ref>

In August of 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of [[Lahore]], Pakistan in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.<ref name="cp23922">http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060822/23922.htm</ref>

Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.<ref name="cp23922" />

===Attacks on Christians by Islamists in Indonesia===
Religious conflicts have typically occurred in [[western New Guinea]], [[Maluku]] (particularly [[Ambon Island|Ambon]]), and [[Sulawesi]]. The presence of Muslims in these regions is largely due to [[Suharto]]'s ''[[transmigrasi]]'' plan of population re-distribution. Conflicts have often occurred because of the aims of radical [[Islamist]] organizations such as [[Jemaah Islamiah]] or [[Laskar Jihad]] to impose [[Sharia]]. The following list is far from comprehensive:
*[[1998]] - 500 Christian churches burned down in [[Java (island)|Java]].
*November, [[1998]] - 22 churches in [[Jakarta]] are burned down. 13 Christians killed.
*[[Christmas]] Day [[1998]] - 180 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in [[Poso]], [[Central Sulawesi]].
*[[Easter]] [[2000]] - 800 homes and stores owned by Christians are destroyed in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
*[[May 23]], [[2000]] - Christians fight back against a Muslim [[Crowd|mob]]. 700 people die.
*June, [[2001]] - the [[Laskar Jihad]] declares [[Jihad]] against Christians. Muslim [[citizen]]s are recruited by the thousands to exterminate Christians.
*[[May 28]], [[2005]] - A bomb is exploded in a crowded market in [[Tentena]], killing 28. This marks the highest death toll due to bombing after the devastating attacks in [[Bali]].<ref>http://www.persecution.org/news/press2001-03-09.html</ref>
*[[October 29]], [[2005]] three school girls were found [[beheaded]] near Poso. The girls, students at [[Central Sulawesi Christian Church]], were killed by six unidentified assailants while on their way to class.

===Discrimination and persecution in other Muslim nations===
In [[Saudi Arabia]] Christians are arrested and lashed in public for practicing their faith openly.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=23</ref> Bibles and other non-Muslim religious books are captured, piled up and burned by the religious police of Saudi. No non-Muslims are allowed to become Saudi citizens. Prayer services by Christians are frequently broken up by the police and the Christians are arrested and tortured without even allowing them to be released on bail.

In [[Egypt]] the government does not officially recognise conversions from Islam to Christianity; because certain interfaith marriages are not allowed either, this prevents marriages between converts to Christianity and those born in Christian communities, and also results in the children of Christian converts being classified as Muslims and given a Muslim education. The government also requires permits for repairing churches or building new ones, which are often withheld. Foreign missionaries are allowed in the country only if they restrict their activities to social improvements and refrain from proselytizing. The [[Coptic Christianity|Coptic]] [[Pope Shenouda III]] was internally exiled in [[1981]] by President [[Anwar Sadat]], who then chose five Coptic bishops and asked them to choose a new pope. They refused, and in [[1985]] President [[Hosni Mubarak]] restored Pope Shenouda III, who had been accused of fomenting interconfessional strife. Particularly in Upper Egypt, the rise in extremist [[Islamist]] groups such as the [[Gama'at Islamiya]] during the 1980s was accompanied by attacks on Copts and on Coptic churches; these have since declined with the decline of those organizations, but still continue. The police have been accused of siding with the attackers in some of these cases.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/589977.stm</ref> Nevertheless, high-ranking government officials in Egypt have included Copts like [[Boutros Ghali]] and his grandson, [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]].

There have been anti-Christian incidents carried out in areas governed by the [[Palestinian Authority]]. Some claim that this represents a pattern of deliberate mistreatment by the PA;<ref>http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july02/arafatland.html</ref> others hold that these are isolated incidents that reflect the beliefs of the individuals involved, but not the society in general.<ref>http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=36</ref><ref>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/764947.html</ref> Two American courts, one in Illinois and the other in North Carolina, accepted the threat of "religious persecution" as grounds for granting asylum to Evangelical converts fleeing PA territory.
There is an ongoing trend for emigration among [[Palestinian Christian]]s doubling that of Muslims.
The ratio of Christians among Palestinians went from 18%-20% in 1947 to 13% in 1966 to 2.1% in 1993.<ref name="DonWagner">''[http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/pubs/20020312ib.html Palestinian Christians: An Historic Community at Risk?]'', by Don Wagner (Palestine Center - Information Brief No. 89, 12 March 2002) quoting [[Bethlehem University]] sociologist [[Bernard Sabella]] (see [http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm Palestinian Christians: Challenges and Hopes]).</ref> Among the causes there are the insecurity of living under Israeli rule after the 1967 [[Six Day War]], the comparatively warmer welcome that Christians have in the Americas and the rise of Islamism in Palestine politics

Though [[Iran]] recognizes [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] and [[Armenian people|Armenian]] Christians as a religious minority (along with Jews and Zoroastrians) and they have representatives in the [[Majlis of Iran|Parliament]], after the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 Revolution]], Muslim converts to Christianity (typically to Protestant Christianity) have been arrested and sometimes executed. <ref>{{cite web|title=Iran Religious and Ethnic Minorities: Discrimination in Law And Practice|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=1997|url=http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-05.htm|accessdate = 2007-03-22}}</ref> ''See also: [[Christianity in Iran]]''.

In the Philippines, the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] and [[Abu Sayyaf]] has attacked and killed Christians.<ref>http://persecution.org/Countries/philippines.html</ref>

[[Abdul Rahman (convert)|Abdul Rahman]], a 41-year-old Afghan citizen, was charged in Afghanistan with rejecting Islam ([[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]]), a crime punishable by death under [[Sharia]] law. He has since been released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4823874.stm</ref><ref>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7BB654F1-7D5C-4E7D-B251-28A6E20A461D.htm</ref>

==Atheist persecution of Christians==
===The Dechristianization program during the French Reign of Terror===
{{main|Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution}}

[[Image:Cruikshank - The Radical's Arms.png|thumb|left|1819 [[Caricature]] by [[George Cruikshank]] depicting the execution of Catholic clergy (note the mitre and bible under the guillotine)]]. The [[Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution]] is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the [[French Revolution]] in [[1789]] and the [[Concordat of 1801]].

The program of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included:

*the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
*the closing of churches,
*the institution of atheistic and deist cults, including the [[Cult of Reason]] and subsequently the [[Cult of the Supreme Being]],
*the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
*the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
*forced marriages of the clergy,
*forced abjurement of priesthood, and
*the enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
<ref>Latreille, A. FRENCH REVOLUTION, New Catholic Encyclopedia v. 5, pp. 972-973 (Second Ed. 2002 Thompson/Gale) ISBN 0-7876-4004-2</ref>

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] Cathedral on 10 November.

The dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. By early [[1795]] a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on [[February 21]], 1795 legalized public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the [[Christian cross]] were still forbidden. As late as [[1799]], priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and persecution only worsened after the French army led by General [[Louis Alexandre Berthier]] captured [[Rome]] and imprisoned [[Pope Pius VI]], who would die in captivity in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]], France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] now in ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope, [[Pope Pius VII|Pius VII]], led to the [[Concordat of 1801]], formally ending the dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the church and the French State.

Victims of the [[Reign of Terror]] totaled approximately 40,000. Among those people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 6 percent clergy <ref>[http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=209830 Harvey, Donald Joseph FRENCH REVOLUTION, History.com 2006 (Accessed April 27,2007)]</ref> and countless others were killed or persecuted because of their faith. Of the various social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.

===Communist persecution of Christians===
[[Marxism|Marxist]] ideology promotes atheism.<ref>Symbols, Conflict, and Identity: Essays in Political Anthropology by Zdzisław Mach, page 152</ref> This can often lead communist-states to persecute Christians as well as other [[theism|theists]].

====Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union====
{{see|Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union}}

After the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks undertook a massive program to remove the influence of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] from the government and [[Russia]]n society, and to make the state [[atheist]]. Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as warehouses. Monasteries were closed and often converted to prison camps, most notably the Solovetz monastery becoming [[Solovki]] camp. Many members of clergy were imprisoned for anti-government activities. These victims are now recognized as the "[[New Martyrs]]" by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], the old martyrs being the victims of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] persecutions. Church property, including the icons and other objects of worship (especially those made of precious metals) was confiscated and put to other uses.

While religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Constitution actually guaranteed religious freedom to all Soviet citizens, persecution was still government policy.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church abated during [[World War II]], at which time [[Stalin]]'s government reached a truce with the Church in order to use it as part of its program to inspire Russian [[patriotic]] fervor. Nevertheless, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] government sought to put the Church under control by appointing loyal men as priests, allegedly ending up with the entire upper ranks of the Church being officers of the [[KGB]].

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the celebration of [[Christmas]] and the traditional Russian holiday of New Year (Feast of the Circumcision of Christ) was prohibited (later on New Year was reinstated as a secular holiday and is now the most significant family holiday in [[Russia]]). Gatherings and religious processions were initially prohibited and later on strictly limited and regulated. In later years, a more subtle method of disrupting Christian holidays involved broadcasting very popular movies one after the other on the major holidays when believers are expected to participate in religious processions, especially during the [[Easter]] celebration. Apparently, this was intended to keep those whose faith was uncertain or wavering in their homes and glued to their [[Television|TV]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

An intense ideological anti-Christian and anti-religious campaign was carried out throughout the history of the [[Soviet Union]]. An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, not to become believers. The role of the Christian religion and the [[Church]] was painted in black colors in school textbooks. For instance, much emphasis was placed on the role of the Church in such historical horror stories as the [[Inquisition]], persecution of [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], [[Giordano Bruno]], and other heretical scientists, and the [[Crusades]]. School students were encouraged to taunt and use [[peer pressure]] against classmates wearing crosses or otherwise professing their faith. In the 1920s there were many "anti-God" publications and social clubs sponsored by the government, most notably the scathingly satirical "[[Godless at the Workbench]]" ("Bezbozhnik u Stanka" in Russian). Later on, these disappeared because a new generation has grown up essentially [[atheist]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

A "scientific" perspective was used to attack religion extensively. The Church was portrayed as obscurantist and opposed to the findings of [[science]]. Much was made of alleged Christian belief in the literal [[Creation (theology)|Creation]] account in the book of [[Genesis]] which the pro-[[Darwinian]] textbooks ridiculed.{{Fact|date=May 2007}} As part of the anti-foreign and anti-capitalist propaganda, an effort was made, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, to imprint in the minds of the people an image of the [[Western Culture|West]] as dominated by the anti-scientific ignorance of the Church, as opposed to the scientifically "progressive" [[atheist]] Soviet state.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In general, Christianity was portrayed as corrupt, hypocritical, a loyal servant of the reactionary [[czar]], obscurantist, "opium for the people" according to [[Karl Marx]], and otherwise evil. This [[Communist]] persecution of the Church proved enormously successful. Within the span of one generation, the traditionally highly devout Russian people became overwhelmingly [[atheist]]. This transformation was, for the most part, complete by the 1950s. As such, it counted as one of the greatest and the most successful persecutions Christianity had ever experienced, on par only with the destruction of Christianity in the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], and [[Asia Minor]] by the [[Islamic]] and [[Turkey|Turkish]] conquests.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

After the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], the government of [[Russia]] openly embraced the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], and there was a reputed renaissance in the number of the faithful in [[Russia]]. As of 2004 it is generally noted, however, that whereas a very large percent of Russians today identify themselves as believers and members of the Church (up from a very small group in the Soviet days), still relatively few of them actually attend [[church]] regularly, read the [[Bible]], or otherwise take their [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with the [[Church]] seriously. For many, it seems, [[faith]] has become a matter of personal identification and readiness to [[Baptism|baptize]] their children or have church [[marriage]] and [[burial]] ceremonies, and not much else. This is a clear testimony to the completeness and the long term success of the Communist persecution of the Christianity in [[Russia]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

[[Richard Wurmbrand]], author of ''[[Tortured for Christ]]'' described the systematic persecution of Christians in one East Bloc nation. Many Christian believers in the Soviet Union have told of being imprisoned for no other reason than believing in God. Many have recently been canonized as [[saint]]s following their death at the hands of Soviet authorities; they are collectively referred to in the Orthodox Church as the "new martyrs". (See also [[Enemy of the people]], [[Gulag]], [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]], [[Varlam Shalamov]])

====Persecution in other Eastern Bloc nations====
{{see|Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries}}

[[Enver Hoxha]] conducted a campaign to extinguish all forms of religion in [[Albania]] in [[1967]], closing all religious buildings and declaring the state atheist. Albania was the only Eastern Bloc nation that actually outlawed religion. See [[Communist and post-Communist Albania]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

However, persecution of Christians, especially Protestants, [[Pentecostals]] and non-registered minority denominations, has continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, in many countries in [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Central Asia]], notably [[Tajikistan]], [[Uzbekistan]] and [[Human rights in Belarus|Belarus]].

====Persecution of Christians in North Korea====
{{Expand-section|date=August 2007}}
Persecution of Christians is currently the worst in North Korea.<ref>http://sb.od.org/index.php?supp_page=wwl_top_ten&supp_lang=en</ref>

==Nazi-Fascist persecution==
Although far less hostile to Christianity than to Judaism, which the [[Nazism|Nazis]] [[the Holocaust|sought to exterminate]] throughout the [[Third Reich]] and lands that came under Nazi rule, Nazi [[totalitarianism]] demanded that all religious activity conform to the desires of Nazi leadership. Christian churches were obliged to accept the racist doctrines of Nazism. The [[Gestapo]] monitored Christian clergy and congregations for any semblance of dissent with Nazi policies, and many Christian clergy and laymen ended up in concentration camps when they asserted opposition to the teachings and practices of Nazism or if they acted upon pacifist convictions (like many [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and some [[Confessing Church]] members). During the early part of the Nazi rule, the "[[German Christians]]" were an important pseudo-Protestant tool of the regime to bring about the [[Gleichschaltung]] of the churches.

The expansion of [[Nazi Germany]] and the establishment of Nazi rule in occupied countries brought about persecutions ranging from those characteristic in Germany itself to conditions approaching those of the Soviet Union. Catholic priests in Poland that were opposed to the Nazis were taken to the concentration camps; many were murdered in the liquidation of the Polish [[intelligentsia]]. Due to its long historical association with [[Slavic Peoples|Slavic cultures]], Nazi occupation officials used collaborators such as the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Ustashe]] to specifically target [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] Christians in [[Yugoslavia]]. [[Roman Catholics]] were heavily persecuted in Nazi Germany because of their opposing views on [[Nazi eugenics]] and racial hatred.

In Italy the fascist regime of [[Mussolini]] persecuted [[Pentecostals]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and other Protestant groups following the [[Lateran Accords]] with the Roman Catholic church. In 1935, the interior minister [[Guido Buffarini Guidi]] ordered the complete break-up of the Pentecostalist network in Italy.<ref>[www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-7709.2005.00509.x For the Cause of Christ here in Italy]</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Persecution of Christians]]
[[Category:Christianity]]

Pasta

2007-08-28T11:08:08Z

Hornet35: New page: '''Pasta''' is a type of food.

'''Pasta''' is a type of food.